Stockton - A continuation of the trail series
by fozrulz
Summary: Clay, Ellie and Joe are on the last day of the trail to Stockton. Ellie and Joe recall their previous trip to Stockton.
1. Chapter 1

STOCKTON

Chapter 1

This is part of my trail series. Clay, Joe and Ellie have been on the road to Stockton for a horse buying trip. Early in the trip, Joe's behind had a run in with a cactus. Clay fixed him up, but he was sore. The three had been telling stories of their childhoods to pass the time and take Joe's mind off his very sore behind. They are a half-day out of Stockton. They are headed to buy some horses from the Barkley's.

"So, who are the Barkley's anyway," Clay asked. "I know Pa thinks a lot of them."

"They've been friends with Pa a long time," remarked Joe. "I love to visit them, we always have such a good time."

"Joe just wants to moon over Audra," Ellie smirked.

"Shut up Eleanor," Joe growled.

Ellie almost fell off Mariah laughing, "Sir, yes sir!" she saluted him.

"Cut it out or I'm gonna smack you," Joe hissed.

"Oh, I'm so scared," teased Ellie.

Joe reached for Ellie to smack her, but Clay caught his hand. "You better not be smacking any girls, especially your little sister."

"Let me go Clay, she deserves it," Joe seethed.

Clay pulled up to Joe's horse, he still had Joe's hand, "You settle down boy. What did Pa say about behaving on this trip?"

"I have enough going on, I don't need her ragging on me," Joe nearly yelled at his brother.

Clay sighed, sometimes these two could be such a trial. Normally they got on well, but there were times that just got on each other's last nerve. Clay turned toward Ellie, "Leave him alone."

She just smirked at Joe.

Clay released Joe's arm. "You good, now?"

"Yeah," said Joe frowning.

"Ok, so tell me about them Ellie." Clay asked.

"Well, there's Mrs. Barkley, we call her Aunt Victoria. Mr. Barkley died the year before I met them. Then there's Jarod, he's a lawyer, he's the same age as Adam. Then there's Nick, he's younger than Adam, but older than Heath, say, I think he's your age. Then there's Heath, he came to live with the Barkley's later, kind of like you, but I don't really know why, he's the same age as Hoss, then there's Audra, she's 19. Then there's Eugene, we call him Gene and he's the same as Joe, and then there's Kathleen. She's a year older than me. So, it's like our families match up, except they have their mama and not their papa and we have our papa and not our mama."

"When did you meet them?" asked Clay curiously.

"Oh, I think I was five. But then we went back when I was seven. Adam took me on the stage to Stockton and Papa, Hoss and Joe rode in. We came for a horse buying trip. Kind of like this one."

"Ellie, why don't you tell him the whole story of your second visit with the Barkley's?" snarked Joe.

Ellie turned red, she had been in trouble off and on that entire trip. She and Kathleen got into more trouble in that week than Ellie had ever been in her whole life. Clay noticed the exchange between the two. He assumed Joe was still mad for teasing him about Audra and this was his way of getting her back. She must have gotten in a peck of trouble if she was turning red.

She looked at Joe darkly, "Aw, we don't really need to talk about that. Besides I remember you got to a three count with Papa before you even got to the Barkley's."

Now it was Joe's turn to be red. "Aw, I was hoping you'd forget about that."

Ellie shook her head, "Not a chance."

Joe smiled evilly, "It ain't any more embarrassing than our trip to China."

Ellie looked at him, "That's easy for you to say, I swear Papa and Adam punished me more in that week thank I can ever remember."

"Aw come on Sissy, you were only 7, it's not like that would happen again," cajoled Joe. He knew calling her 'Sissy' would show her he wasn't mad anymore. He figured that would soften her up to tell a really good story to Clay. Clay just sat back and watched the two go back and forth.

"Ok, ok, I guess I could tell it. But if I tell it Joe, you can't tease me and Kathleen about it, when we get to Stockton, I know Kathleen probably got in more trouble for what happened than me and I'm sure she doesn't want to think about it. And, you have to tell what happened on the way to Stockton with you, Papa and Hoss."

Joe nodded his head in agreement, "I won't tease you and Kathleen, if you leave me alone about Audra," he bargained.

Ellie just nodded her head.

Clay couldn't help himself, "What in the world happened and what's a three count."

"Well, the short story is that Kathleen and I sneaked off and got lost in Stockton for 2 days, the entire town was looking for us, and we kept hiding to avoid getting in trouble, which just made it worse. But there is a lot more to the story than that. That was just the part we got in the most trouble for."

Clay could only imagine how frantic Pa would have been had Ellie sneaked off and been gone for two entire days. No wonder the poor man's hair was white. He turned to Joe, "What's a three count?" Clay asked again.

Joe looked at Clay like he was the dumbest thing on earth, "You don't know what a three count is?"

Clay shook his head no.

"Didn't your grandpa ever tell you that if he got to 3, he'd whale the tar out of ya?"

Clay smiled, "Nope, Grandfather gave no warnings at all."

"So, it was the summer that I was 7," started Ellie.

**Flashback:**

Ellie and Joe were out of school for the summer. Pa was discussing the trip to Stockton with Adam on Saturday morning. "You know Adam, I'm not sure what to do with Ellie, if we all go to Stockton, what are we going to do with Ellie? Hop Sing is going off to visit his relatives in San Francisco. It will be about a ten day trip total, 3 days there, 3 days back and we planned on spending a few days with the Barkley's."

Adam looked at his father seriously, "I can't imagine having her on the trail for that long. Plus it's going to be hard enough to keep an eye on Joe and bring those horses back, without having to worry about Ellie," he said.

Pa nodded his head knowingly, "I know."

"Pa, we were going to leave on Monday, right?"

"Yes, what of it?" Pa asked, his eyebrows going up.

"Did you remember we have to deliver that timber for the mine on Monday and Tuesday and one of us needs to be here to receive the payment. I could just take Ellie up to the lumber camp with me and I could stay behind and keep Ellie. But, I sure was looking forward to that trip to Stockton. I really enjoy the Barkley's."

Pa thought for a moment, "Adam what would you think about you and Ellie taking the stage to Stockton on Wednesday? You know it would be a fun trip for her, Kathleen is about her age. It would be nice for her to have someone to play with."

Adam's eyes lit up, "Well, that would be wonderful Pa. I would really like that."

Pa chuckled. Adam may be 24, but he still could get excited, just like a little boy. "Then, it's settled. Hoss, Joe and I will leave on Monday. We should arrive Wednesday evening and you and Ellie take the stage and you should arrive the next day."

Adam grinned, "That sounds like a plan, Pa. Wait until we tell Ellie."

Ellie was ambling down the stairs about the time that Adam and Pa finished the conversation. She was still sleepy, she was dragging Mooch , her stuffed monkey by the tail and was still wearing her night gown. Hoss was already out doing chores and Joe, well Joe, was late as usual. Even Ellie beat him to the table. Pa held his arms out for Ellie. Ellie wordlessly slipped into his arms and he pulled her into his lap.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Pa chuckled nuzzling her cheek. Ellie sighed and melted into his chest.

"I'm tired Papa," she yawned.

"I see that," said Pa, "what were you doing last night?"

Ellie sighed, "Sleeping, Papa."

Adam just grinned, Ellie had always need a lot of sleep. Joe was the same way. They both complained bitterly about bed time, but they both needed a lot of sleep.

Pa stroked that back of Ellie's head. "Are you awake, baby?"

"Em Hmm…." Ellie yawned again.

Pa tried to put her down, so that she could go sit in her own chair, but she just snuggled into his chest even more. He figured he would just let her sit there until she really woke up. He tried to bribe her awake. "Hop Sing made pancakes with chocolate chips."

Ellie's eyes opened. "Pancakes with chocolate chips?"

Pa laughed, he knew that would wake up his sleepy daughter, that was her favorite breakfast besides anything with strawberry jam. He looked over at Adam, who was enjoying the show. Ellie could be really hard to wake up. "Adam, go roust your brother out of bed, he has chores that need attending to."

"Sure, Pa," Adam said as he pushed back his chair and headed up the stairs.

Adam made it to Joe's room. His little brother slept the sleep of the dead. Waking him up was a chore. Adam didn't even bother to knock, he knew Joe wouldn't hear him. Adam opened the door and just stood there watching Joe sleep. Adam had a protective surge for just a moment. That was short lived as he walked over to the bed. Waking up Joe was like poking a bear. "Heh buddy, time to get up," Adam said shaking Joe's shoulder.

"G'way," mumbled Joe as he snuggled down into his pillow.

"Nope little brother, you better get up and come down for breakfast. It's already 9:00 and you haven't done your chores."

"G'way," Joe repeated.

"Joe, you need to mind Pa, he sent me up here to get you up."

"But Adam, I'm sooooo tired," whined Joe.

"I wouldn't be telling Pa that, he's going to make you go to bed earlier if you whine about being tired." Adam suggested.

That got Joe's attention, he didn't want to end having to go to bed when Ellie did, that would be down right embarrassing, "Ok, ok," grumbled Joe.

"Joe, guess what?" asked Adam.

"What," Joe grumped.

"Well for one, you better get that attitude fixed before you go downstairs and two, Hop Sing made chocolate chip pancakes."

A huge grin broke out across Joe's face, "Hot dog, chocolate chip pancakes. I'm coming big brother, I'm coming."

Adam chuckled. Joe loved chocolate chip pancakes. Joe hurriedly dressed and raced down the stairs. He saw Pa and Ellie sitting at the table. Adam had gone off to do his Saturday chores. "Morning Pa," he said sliding into his seat.

"Joseph, you're late to breakfast again. I'm wondering if I need to set your bedtime back. You must not be getting enough sleep." Pa said looking over at his errant son.

Anger flashed in Joe's eyes, "I don't need to go bed earlier Pa, Jeez, I'm 12, what 12 year old goes to bed before 9:00." Joe said his voice rising.

Pa's eyes narrowed, "Don't you raise your voice to me, young man."

Joe took a deep breath, he looked down at his plate. He was trying to reign in his temper, he didn't want to get in trouble before the day even started. "Pa, I'm sorry I'm grumpy." Joe said turning his puppy eyes on his father. "Please don't make my bedtime any earlier."

"Well, if this and your attitude don't improve, I will," Pa warned.

"Yes sir," Joe nodded his head eagerly.

Ellie had been pushing her food around on her plate. She didn't like when there was conflict in the family. It made her sad. Pa looked over at Ellie. "Ellie, please finish your breakfast, everything is fine."

Ellie looked at Joe. Joe nodded his head to let her know, everything was fine.

Ellie returned to eating her breakfast. She was glad the small storm had passed.

"Ellie, how would you like to come on our trip to Stockton?"

Ellie's eyes got wide as saucers, "Really, Papa, I can ride to Stockton with you?"

Pa's eyes danced with merriment, "Not exactly. You and Adam will take the stage on Wednesday and meet us there. Joe, Hoss and I are going to ride to Stockton."

Joe was feeling very proud and grown up at the moment. He was going to get to actually go on his first horse buying trip. Up until now, he and Ellie usually stayed with Hop Sing, when Pa and the others went on trips.

"Wow!" said Ellie.

"You can only go if you obey Adam. It's been a long time since you've been on the stage and you will need to go up to the lumber camp with him. You must listen to him."

Ellie nodded her head in agreement, "I promise Papa, I promise to be really good."

Pa nodded his head. He doubted she could be good for that long. He hoped that Adam could handle Ellie, she could be a lot of work. Pa pushed back from the table and sent Ellie upstairs to get dressed and sent Joe to get his chores done.

**Next up: The Goodbye**


	2. Chapter 2

STOCKTON CHAPTER TWO

**THE GOODBYE**

The weekend passed quickly as the family got ready for their respective trips. It was now Sunday night. Pa, Hoss and Joe were leaving in the morning to ride to Stockton, they were going to be on the trail 3 days, stay in Stockton for 4 days, and 3 days on the road back. Ellie was getting very nervous. She wasn't used to being away from her Papa for more than a night. She knew she had Adam, but Adam wasn't the same as her papa. They were all sitting in the great room and Pa was telling Hoss and Joe about the trip.

"Boys," Pa said trying to get their attention. Neither one of them were paying attention. Joe and Hoss were playing checkers. Hoss was concentrating really hard and Joe was trying to find a way to win. Joe couldn't usually win unless Hoss was distracted.

Joe was pestering Hoss. He was asking Hoss all kinds of questions about the trip. "Joe, quit pestering me, I cain't think. Besides I done told you the answer to all them questions three times," said Hoss exasperated.

Adam looked at his two brothers. He knew exactly what was going on. Joe looked over Hoss' head at Adam and winked. "But Hoss," Joe whined.

"Dad gum it, Joe,"

"Hoss, that will be enough," said Pa chuckling at his middle son's frustration with his baby son.

"But Pa, he's only pestering me so I cain't think and so he can beat me." Hoss complained.

Pa put his serious look on, "Boys, time to put the checkers away. We need to talk about the trip to Stockton and what I expect."

"Aw, come on Pa, we're almost done. I've almost won," gloated Joe.

"Joseph, I'm not going to tell you again," started Pa.

Joe scowled, but wisely said nothing. He started cleaning up the checkers to put them away. Joe and Hoss turned their full attention to their father.

"I just want to get this straight from the beginning. It's going to be a long trip, 3 days. Joseph, I am allowing you to come on this trip because I think you are old enough to handle the responsibility." Said Pa.

Joe nodded his head, "Yes, Pa."

Then Ben turned to Hoss, "Hoss, not only am I going to need help with the horses once we buy them, I'm going to need you to help me keep an eye on Joe."

"Yes sir," Hoss nodded. Pa didn't really have to tell him. He knew it would be his job to babysit Joe. He just had to do it without Joe knowing he was being babysat.

Jos was seeing red. He wasn't some baby that needed to be watched. He was 12. He was certainly old enough to ride on a trip to get horses. Anger flashed in his eyes, "I don't need nobody watching me. I can take care of myself," Joe flashed indignantly.

Pa took a deep breath, "Joseph, you are only 12. You haven't been on a trip like this. You have to pay attention to your riding and your surroundings all of the time. You just have to be prepared for whatever is around you, that means obeying me or Hoss 100% of the time. Is that clear?"

Joe was still mad, "It's clear."

Pa's eyes narrowed at the disrespect that was coming from his youngest son. "And another thing young man, if you raise your voice to me just one more time, now or on this trip, you will not be riding comfortably. Is that clear?"

Joe gulped. He knew the meaning of that statement. He did not want to start the trip sitting in the saddle all day on a sore backside. He took a deep breath, looked at his father, "Yes sir."

Relieved to get acquiescence from his son, Pa stood up. "Did you boys pack for the trip? Both boys said , "yes sir." He looked at his youngest son, "Joe bring your saddle bags to my room, I just want to make sure you have everything that you need."

Joe grimaced, jeez he wasn't a baby. But he wanted to ask Pa for permission to carry a gun on the trip, so he just nodded his head. He would ask Pa while his saddle bags were being checked.

Pa then looked at Adam and Ellie, Ellie was sitting with Adam looking at a picture book. He looked at the clock, it was almost 7:30. "Ellie?" he asked trying to get her attention.

As usual Ellie didn't hear him, she was too busy looking at the baby animal picture book that she had. Adam nudged her. She looked up at Adam, with a questioning glance, "What?"

Adam jutted his chin out toward Pa and whispered, "Pa was calling you."

"Oh," she said turning toward Pa. "I'm sorry Papa, I didn't hear you."

"Ellie, I'm leaving Adam in charge. You must listen to him as if he were me. You are going to have to go up to the lumber camp with him tomorrow. You must listen to him, the lumber camp can be a very dangerous place for children." Pa cautioned her.

Ellie started thinking about her papa leaving her. She started to tear up, "But Papa, I want to go with you," she said sliding down from the chair and going to stand in front of her father.

Pa's heart melted. He really hated when he left her. Normally, she was fine as long as she was with Adam, but for some reason that didn't seem to be good enough this time. Pa grabbed her by the waist and put her on his lap. "I know darling, but I will see you on Thursday. You get to ride in a stage coach. Won't that be exciting? "

Ellie shook her head no. She would much rather go with her papa. "But Papa, I want to go with you," she cried.

Pa looked over her head at Adam. Adam just shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea why she didn't want to go with him. His feelings were a little bit hurt even though she hero-worshiped him.

Pa hugged her. "Baby, you always stay with Adam when I go out of town. Why is this different?"

Ellie shrugged her shoulders miserably, "I don't know."

"Well, we have this all settled and we can't change it. You need to promise me that you will be a very good girl for Adam," he said giving her a hug of encouragement.

Ellie nodded her head and then laid her head down on Pa's chest. The clock chimed 7:30, it was Ellie's bed time. Pa stood up. "Come on baby, it's bedtime. Why don't we look at your picture book together," Pa gathered Ellie and her book and headed upstairs to put his daughter to bed.

After Pa put Ellie to bed, he called for Joe, "Joe, bring me your saddlebags."

Joe raced up the stairs to his room and grabbed his saddlebags. He brought them to Pa. Pa seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Now was his chance to ask. "Pa?"

Pa turned to look at Joe, "Yes son?"

"You know Pa, since we're going to be on the trail and all…."

"Yes son?"

"And you never know what might happen," ventured Joe.

Pa was getting annoyed, why did it take so long to get anything out of Joe. '"Son, get on with it," Pa growled.

Joe took a deep breath, "Don't you think it would be a good idea if I carry a gun on the trail?"

Pa was shocked. What parent would allow their 12 year old to carry a gun? He might teach Joe to shoot a rifle soon, but carry a gun? Certainly not.

"Absolutely not," stated Pa calmly, "you aren't old enough."

"But Pa, what if we get attached by the Comanches?" asked Joe.

"Joseph, you are not carrying a gun under any circumstances. The subject is closed." Pa warned Joe.

"But, Pa," Joe started.

"Joseph," Pa said in his warning voice.

"Yes sir," said Joe glumly. Joe was very disappointed as he started to leave Pa's room. Pa handled him back his saddlebags, "Good job, son."

"Thanks Pa," Joe mumbled.

The next morning, all the family was around the breakfast table, except for Ellie. "Joe, where's Ellie?" asked Pa.

"She wouldn't come down, Pa. I couldn't get her to get dressed. She's really grumpy," said Joe.

Pa's normal shining eyes started to darken with anger. The last thing he needed today was for Ellie to start acting up before he even left. He started to get up, but Adam stopped him. "Pa, let me get her. She's going to have to start minding me, so I may as well start now."

Pa grimaced, "You tell that little girl that if I have to come get her, she won't like the consequences." Adam just nodded his head as he headed up the stairs to get his sister.

Adam pushed her door open to find her sitting in her nightgown on the bed. "Come on Ellie, you need to tell Pa 'goodbye' and get dressed so we can head up to the lumber camp."

'NO! I don't want to go with you," Ellie stated adamantly crossing her arms over her chest."

Adam rolled his eyes. If she only knew how silly she looked with her mad face and arms crossed over her chest. She was still holding her stuffed monkey, Mooch. He was hanging from her left hand. Adam thought of how hard it was to look serious when you were holding a stuffed monkey by the tail. He was trying his hardest not to laugh. He put on his serious voice and kneeled right in front of her. He put his hands on either side of her bottom. "Ellie, you promised Pa you were going to be a good girl. You need to get dressed and come downstairs."

Ellie vehemently shook her head no.

Adam sighed as he stood up, "Well, I guess I'll just have to tell Pa that you won't mind. Then Pa'll come up here. He said if he has to come get you, you won't like what happens."

That statement got Ellie's attention. Usually that statement meant she was going to get a spanking for not listening. She knew she would end up having to ride up to the lumber camp with Adam. She didn't want to have sore bottom, it was a long ride. "Papa's being mean," she complained as she slid off the bed.

Adam shook his head, "No he's not, you're being naughty."

She just stood there. Adam looked at his little sister and hoped that this wasn't a preview of the next few days. "What do you want to wear today?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Can I wear pants?" she asked.

Adam shook his head, "No, you only get to wear pants when you're doing chores. You know that. Come on which dress do you want, the blue gingham or the one with the yellow flowers?"

"Do I have to wear those dumb ruffley petticoats?" she asked. She really hated those things, they itched.

"No, you can just wear your regular ones. Come on, we really have to get going."

"Ok," she finally acquiesced pointing to the blue dress.

Adam helped her get dressed and then grabbed her hand to lead her downstairs. Pa was relieved that he didn't have to go get her. He didn't enjoy disciplining his children, but he refused to tolerate disrespect of any kind. He didn't want to leave her for 4 days with the last thing he would have done is giving her a spanking.

"Eleanor," Pa said getting her attention as Adam got her seated.

"Yes Papa?"

"You promised me that you were going to be good. I don't think what just happened with Adam having to get you is being good. If Adam tells me that you were not a good girl while I'm gone or on the trip to Stockton, I will blister your bottom. Do you understand?"

"Yes Papa, I'm sorry, I'll be good." Ellie said contritely.

Pa smiled at her, "Wonderful, I am so happy to hear it." He then turned to Hoss and Joe, "Come on boys we need to get on the road."

The boys stood up to leave. Hoss shook Adam's hand and came over to give Ellie a hug and a kiss. "Be a good girl, Princess. I love you bunches." He said.

"Bye Hossy, I love you bunches." She replied.

Joe tried to shake Adam's hand like a man. Adam wasn't having any of that. He grabbed Joe in a big hug, "Be good little brother."

"Aww, Adam," said Joe trying to duck out of the hug. Adam just snickered.

Pa looked at Ellie. She looked so sad and forlorn. He knelt down and hugged her. "Be a good girl for Adam and I'll see if we can find you something special in Stockton. I love you, baby."

"I love you Papa," Ellie said with the tears starting to roll down her face.

Pa looked over at Adam. Adam scooped up Ellie in his arms, she cried into his chest. Not a gut wrenching cry, but a soft one. Pa. Hoss and Joe took their leave and headed out the door.

Adam put his little sister down and put her back in her sear. "You need to eat something," he said.

I'm not hungry," she said refusing her plate.

Adam was getting frustrated. It had already been a long emotional morning and he really didn't want to fight with her anymore and they needed to get moving. He offered her a biscuit with strawberry jam. She looked at him surprised. She never got to eat a biscuit first. Adam grinned, "Our little secret for today," he winked at her.

Ellie accepted the biscuit and polished it off with a glass of milk.

**Next up: The Lumber Camp**


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

**THE LUMBER CAMP**

Ellie finished her breakfast under Adam's watchful eye. As she finished, Adam told her to take her plate and glass into the kitchen. When she returned to the table, Adam looked at her and said, "We might be up at the lumber camp all day. Do you want to take your sketch pad and your colors, so you have something to do?"

"Why can't I stay here?" she pouted.

Adam eyed her, he really wasn't in the mood for arguing. "Ellie, Hop Sing is trying to get ready for his trip, he doesn't need you underfoot."

Ellie stamped her foot, "I'm not underfoot, I can just play here," she pointed to the great room. "I promise Adam, please?" she wheedled.

Adam shook his head no. "Come on, do you want your colors or not?"

Ellie stood there debating for a minute. She really didn't want to go with Adam. The ride was long, there was nothing at the camp to do, there was no one to play with, and she just didn't want to go. "Can you take me to Marybeth's house?" she asked. She'd much rather spend the day with her best friend.

Adam ran is hand through his hair, "No, I don't have time to take you over to the 5 star. We need to get going, I need to be there by lunch time to collect the money for the timber contract. Now do you want your colors or not, last chance."

Ellie nodded. She was one very unhappy little girl. Adam sighed. "Run upstairs and get your pad and colors. Hurry, we have to get going."

Ellie turned and ran up the stairs. She got her pad and colors from her room and returned to the great room to hand them to Adam. "Can I at least ride Windy?" she asked plaintively.

Adam could sense a storm brewing, "Ellie we just don't have time. We can get there much faster if you ride with me."

Ellie pouted. This day was not going well at all. Adam noted Ellie's disappointment. "I'll tell you what, if you are very good and mind me, we can go to the International House for dinner, ok?" Adam knew it was a flat out bribe, but he really just wanted to get going and not deal with Ellie in a mood all day.

Ellie brightened a bit. She loved the International House. The restaurant always had chicken and dumplings, her favorite. She didn't let Hop Sing know, but the ones from the International House were even better than his.

Adam was happy to finally get a little smile out of her. He held his hand out, "Ok, let's go." He had already saddled Sport and was ready to leave. Ellie obediently put her hand in his and headed outside. The trip to the lumber camp was fairly quiet. Ellie usually had two modes, wild chatterbox or sleeping, when she rode with someone. Before Adam could even get 15 minutes away from the house, the movement of riding lulled Ellie to sleep.

As they reached the lumber camp, Adam woke Ellie. He leaned down to her good ear, "Heh Princess, we're here."

Ellie stirred and stretched. "Ok."

The foreman of the lumber camp, Wade Collier, approached Adam when he saw him ride in. "Heh there, Adam," greeted Wade. Wade noticed Ellie sitting in front of Adam. He reached up for her, "Need a lift, little lady?" he asked as he swung her down to the ground.

"Thanks, Mr. Wade," she told him politely. Ellie stood still while Adam dismounted. She really wanted to go to the International House. She resolved to do her best to be good.

How's the contract going, Wade?" asked Adam.

"We're done Adam, it's just a matter of delivery," said Wade taking off his hat and running his hand through his hair. "We are meeting Marcus Davidson from the Silver Strike Mine at the entrance to the Truckee river."

"What about the payment?" asked Adam.

The owner of the Silver Strike, Bill Winters is supposed to be here by 2:00 with payment. No payment, no delivery," smiled Wade.

Ellie was starting to get bored. She tugged on Adam's hand. "Adam?"

Adam looked down, "Just a minute Ellie, don't interrupt."

Ellie started to pout, all she wanted were her colors. "I just wanted my colors," she whispered.

Adam barely heard her. He looked at Wade apologetically. "What was that, Ellie?"

She lifted her little face to his and said louder, "I said I just wanted my colors."

Adam looked at Wade, "Heh Wade, do you mind if I get her set up with something to do, so we can finish this?"

Wade chuckled, he had 6 youngins himself. "Go ahead Adam, then maybe you can look at the flume, I think we have a snag and we could use some help. By the way, why don't you put her at the table in my tent, that way she won't be in harm's way."

Adam smiled gratefully. He led Ellie over to Wade's tent. "Ok, here you go. You can stay in here until I'm done. It's probably going to be awhile, so if you get tired, you can lay down on Mr. Wade's bed."

"Ok, Adam," acknowledged Ellie. While Adam was dealing with the flume, Ellie started to make pictures with her colors. She was making pictures of the lumber camp. She was working on the flume, when she realized she needed to use the outhouse. She walked out of the tent and looked around for Adam. He was nowhere to be found. She wasn't sure what to do, she had never been to the lumber camp and didn't know where the outhouse was. Adam hadn't said that she couldn't leave the tent, he just told her, she could stay, not that she had to stay. Ellie reasoned that leaving the tent for the outhouse was ok anyhow. Ellie started to walk around the camp. Lucky for her, she finally found the outhouse before it was too late. When she finished, she stepped out of the outhouse and looked around. She was turned around and wasn't sure which tent was Mr. Wade's. All the tents looked the same to her and there seemed to be so many of them.

As she stood there trying to figure out what to do, she heard a mewing of sorts and a flash of golden fur. She was surprised because she was hard of hearing. The sound must not be very far off. She forgot about looking for Mr. Wade's tent and started walking toward the sound. No one noticed what she was up to because all the men were either working the flume or on the Truckee river.

Meanwhile, Adam realized it must be pretty close to the time that the owner of the Silver Strike was supposed to meet him in the lumber camp to pay for the timber. He headed to the camp, when he spotted Bill Winters, he hurried over to the management tent. "Mr. Winters, so good to see you," smiled Adam putting his hand out to shake, "Adam Cartwright."

Mr. Winters looked him up and down. Who was this young man? Where was Ben Cartwright.? He had never dealt with anyone but Ben. He searched his memory, Adam Cartwright. Oh yes, he was Ben's oldest boy. Adam immediately noticed the older man's displeasure. "Mr. Winters, my father was called away on business, he sent me here to conclude our business with the Silver Strike."

Mr. Winters relaxed a little. "Adam, I usually deal with your father."

"Yes sir, I know, but Pa had scheduled a trip to Stockton and he had to leave today." Adam said hurriedly.

Mr. Winters shook his head, sending a boy to do a man's work. "How old are you, son?" he asked Adam.

Adam felt like he was being treated like a little kid, as if he were Joe's age. "I'm 24, sir."

"No offense young man, but I'd rather deal with your father."

"Yes sir, I understand. But he was unavailable." Changing the subject, Adam unfolded the contract and said, "I believe the payment of 1 million feet of board timber is $100,000."

Mr. Winters handed Adam the draft. "Here you go son, give your father my regards."

"Yes sir," Adam nodded his head in agreement. After accepting the draft and bidding Mr. Winters goodbye, Adam went to Wade's tent to collect Ellie. He made his way to the tent and called her name, "Ellie, come on, we can head out."

Funny, he thought, she's not answering, she must be asleep. He walked in the tent to find it completely empty. Adam panicked. Where in the world was that little girl. He started to seethe. When he got hold of her, he was going to whale the tar out of her. He exited the tent, calling for Wade. "Wade, Wade, Wade Collier!" he shouted.

Wade heard and came running. He saw the ashen look on Adam's face, "What's the matter, son?" he asked.

"Ellie isn't in the tent." Adam said through clenched teeth.

"Now, now , son, she couldn't be too far away." Wade patted Adam on the shoulder. "We'll find her, don't you worry."

While Adam was meeting with Mr. Collier, Ellie had wandered into the trees in search of the golden flash of fur. She was just sure that a kitty had gotten up here and she wanted to help it. She was still following the golden fur when Adam started looking for her.

Adam looked at Wade. "Hang on son, let's think where she might have gone. Do you think she needed to use the outhouse? Or maybe she got hungry and went to the chow tent?"

"Maybe," said Adam. "I just don't know, Wade. I told her not to leave that tent."

Wade smiled, children always did exactly what you told them not to do. "Ok, I'll go check the chow tent and you go check the outhouse."

"Gee thanks," said Adam sarcastically.

Wade just laughed as he walked off.

While Adam headed toward the outhouses, Ellie had found the golden ball of fur. It looked like a kitty, but it looked hurt. There was blood on its' front paw. Ellie walked over to the kitty and picked it up. Its' paws looked kind of big for such a small kitty, she didn't know what kind of kitty it was. She went over and picked up the kitty and sat down on a stump. She put the kitty in her lap and was wiping its' paw off with her dress, not caring that she was getting blood all over her dress.

Adam reached the outhouse and noticed tiny little footprints leading away from the outhouse. Fortunately for him the ground was still soft from yesterday's rains. He felt a sense of relief and a sense of anger at the same time. Boy, he thought, when get hold of her, she won't be sitting for a month of Sundays. He followed the footsteps all the way to the clearing that Ellie was sitting in. He saw her with something in her lap. He just wasn't sure what it was. He shouted for her, "Ellie?"

Of course she didn't hear him because her back was to him. Adam finally made it to where she was sitting. Ellie suddenly noticed black boots standing in front of her. She looked up. "Adam, look what I found," she held up the kitty. "It's a hurt kitty, can you make it better?" she pleaded.

Adam's eyes grew wide, that was no kitty. It was a new born cougar cub and Adam hoped to God that the mama was nowhere near by. "Ellie, that's a cougar, not a kitty. You need to put it down."

"But Adam, it's hurt and needs me." Ellie said stubbornly.

Adam put his best "Pa" face on, "Eleanor Grace Cartwright, that's a wild animal and its' mama is probably looking for it and she won't be happy if you're holding it."

"But Adam, it's hurt," Ellie repeated.

"Ellie, the mama will come back and take care of it. Put it down." Adam demanded. Just then Adam heard a load roar, it was off in the distance. He would bet a dollar, that was the mama. The cub started to mew. "Do you hear that roar Ellie, it's the mama looking for her baby, the baby was crying to let its' mama know where it is. Put it down now!" he said sternly.

Ellie reluctantly put the cub down and walked toward Adam. He grabbed her hand and landed the hardest swat he could on her bottom.

"Ow, what'd you do that for?" Ellie started to cry.

Exasperated Adam picked her up and quickly left the area before the mama cougar came to find its' baby. When he got back to the camp, he put Ellie down. He got eye level with her, "I told you to stay in the tent and you disobeyed me." He said angrily.

Ellie looked shocked. He did not tell her to stay in the tent, he just said she could stay in the tent, besides she needed to use the outhouse. "But Adam, you said I could stay there, not that I had to stay and besides I needed the outhouse. I looked for you or Mr. Wade, but I didn't know where you were and I, well, um… I couldn't wait. I really needed to go." She said tearfully.

"You didn't go straight back to the tent." Adam pointed out.

"But Adam, you didn't say I had to and the baby kitty was crying and I wanted to help it." Ellie said through her tears.

"You didn't mind, and it was a wild cougar, not a kitty" insisted Adam.

"But I did, I did mind." mumbled Ellie.

Adam just grabbed her hand and walked quickly back to the tent. He walked so fast, that Ellie's little legs couldn't keep up, she was running to keep up with him. He headed for Sport, when Ellie stopped him. "Adam, may I get my colors, please?"

Adam huffed, "Yes, go get them. I need to find Wade and tell him that you are ok and we are heading back to the ranch. You stay right here in this tent until I get back, do you understand?"

Ellie noticed that he said "ranch" and not "town" to go to the International House. She guessed that they weren't going because Adam was so mad and she didn't even know what she'd done wrong. "Yes Adam," Ellie said with her head down.

Adam found Wade and told him the story. Wade guffawed. "Son, did you tell her to stay put or that she "could" stay?"

Adam thought a minute, "I don't know Wade, I may have told her she "could" stay, I don't remember."

"Well, she's just a little girl, Adam. I don't think she thought she was intentionally being disobedient." Wade chuckled as he patted Adam on the bank.

"Yeah, but she knows better than to go off into the woods to chase a wild animal." Adam argued.

"Well to her, it wasn't a wild animal and it needed help. She's just like your brother Hoss in that way, always trying to rescue something."

Adam smiled, yeah he guesses she was just like Hoss. Adam and Ellie mounted up on Sport and headed home. Ellie was too upset to fall asleep. She was brooding. She finally turned to him, "Addy, why are you mad at me?"

Adam sighed, "I'm not mad, I was just scared when I thought you were lost and had that mama cougar found you with her baby, you could have been hurt very badly."

He noticed that she was using Addy, instead of Adam. That usually meant she was sick or really upset. "Addy, I was trying to be really good, I didn't

know that you thought I was being bad," she said softly.

Adam was starting to feel like a heel. He didn't mean to make Ellie think that she was bad. She had just scared him so badly. He didn't know how Pa did it with four children. He couldn't even handle one. Adam stopped Sport for a minute and took Ellie's face in his hands. "I'm sorry Princess, I made a mistake. I'm sorry I wasn't clear when I wanted you to stay in the tent."

"Oh," said Ellie. "Can we still go to the International House for dinner?"

Adam shook his head 'no'. "I have a better idea, why don't we stay at the hotel in town tomorrow night and have dinner at the International House tomorrow night, then we will already be in town to take the stage."

Ellie smiled, that would be such a special treat. She never spent the whole night in town. "Ok, I would like that."

**Next Up: The Road to Stockton**


	4. Chapter 4

STOCKTON

**Chapter 4 – The Road to Stockton**

Joe finally starts his side of the story.

Hoss, Joe and Pa left the house and headed for the stables to saddle their horses for the trip.

"You know Pa, what's wrong with Ellie?" asked Hoss concerned, "She don't normally pitch such a fuss, when you leave, as long as she's got Adam?"

Pa looked at his middle son. He was so connected to the younger children. He was such a worrier. He worried far too much for someone who was only 17. His oldest was the same way, they may look nothing alike or have the same mother, but they were two peas in a pod. "I'm not really sure son." Pa replied.

"Yeah," asked Joe, "why's she being such a cry baby?"

Pa turned to Joe and winked over his head to Hoss, "You know, young man, I remember a certain little boy who would pitch a much longer and louder fit every time I left the house and I wasn't even going over night."

"Yeah Pa, I bet Adam was a real cry baby when he was little." Joe said snarkily.

Pa laughed, "I was thinking of my youngest son."

"Me?" asked Joe, "I don't remember that."

"Yes, you." Pa said giving him a soft swat on the behind. "Go saddle your horse, it's time to go."

The trio saddled their horses and headed out. It was going to be a long three days on the road to Stockton. As they made it across the Ponderosa, Pa was smiling broadly. He was remembering the first trip to Stockton with the whole family and all the trouble that Joe and Eugene had gotten in. He hoped there wasn't going to be a repeat performance. Of course Joe had only been 10 on that trip. They had taken the stage, Ellie had only been 5.

Pa was remembering:

It was the day after arriving at the Barkley Ranch. Audra was going to watch the girls for the day. Adam and Jarod were in the library discussing some of Jarod's law school classes and Adam's architecture classes. Hoss, Heath and Nick had gone out to do chores. Hoss happily volunteered to help his friends with the chores. It got him outside. The three boys had gotten permission to go fishing after all the chores were done.

That left Joe and Eugene. Pa looked over at the boys. "What are you boys going to do today?" he asked them.

Joe thought quickly, "Uh, we were just going to hang out around here, Pa." Gene just nodded his head.

Little did Victoria and Pa know, that this day was going to involve grease, pigs, and Silas' kitchen, oh and the front parlor. Joe and Gene had cooked up the scheme the night before. Well, the original idea was Joe's, but Gene had helped refine all the details.

The night before, Joe and Gene had been talking in Gene's room. Gene and Joe were sharing a room. Ellie was bunking in with Kathleen, Hoss was bunking in with Heath and Adam was bunking in with Jarod. "Heh Gene, what are we doing tomorrow?" asked Joe.

Gene looked at his friend. "I don't know. What do you want to do? We could go riding, we could go to the swimming hole, or we could go fishing. Jarod got me a swell new set of marbles for my birthday."

Joe thought for a minute. "You know we went to the Virginia City fair a couple of months ago and they had these pig races."

Gene just looked at Joe. He wasn't sure what was so exciting about a pig race. "Yeah, what's so great about that?"

"It was fun because they greased the pigs and then you had to chase it through a course and who ever got one at the end won." Joe said excitedly.

Gene was getting the idea, "So, we could build a course and grease up some pigs and see who could catch one?"

"Yeah," Joe smiled.

"Let me get some paper and a pencil, so we can draw out the course," said Gene excitedly. This was going to be a swell idea, he thought. He ran down the stairs into the library. He entered the library where Adam and Jarod were talking. He tried to run over to Jarod's desk. He didn't even ask for permission to go in Jarod's desk. He just flew by Jarod and Adam.

Jarod grabbed him by the waist, "Where's the fire?" he asked.

Gene struggled to get out of his big brother's grip. "Jarod, let me go."

Jarod stood Gene between his knees. "What's going on little brother?"

Gene rolled his eyes, Jarod still treated him like a baby. "I just wanted to get some paper for me and Joe to draw an invention."

Jarod chuckled, "Go ahead, but it would have been much nicer if you had asked permission to go in my desk."

Gene hadn't even thought of that, he was too excited by Joe's idea. "Oh, can I have some paper?"

Jarod just nodded his head and went back to his conversation with Adam. Gene retrieved his paper and ran back up the stairs.

Adam looked over at Jarod, "Well, he's obviously excited about something. I wonder what those two are cooking up."

Jarod laughed, "Don't worry, they're only 10, it can't be that bad."

Adam laughed, "You don't know my baby brother. Trouble usually finds him if he doesn't go find it himself."

Gene ran back up the stairs with the paper. Joe was waiting for him. "Gene, I was thinking about the pigs. The grown up pigs may be too big for us. Do you have any piglets?"

Gene nodded his head. "Yeah, we have some that are about 8 weeks old."

Joe smiled, "That sounds perfect. What about the grease?"

Gene thought for a minute, "Do you know what they used at the fair?"

Joe shook his head no.

Gene's eyes lit up, "I got it. What about lard? Silas keeps a jar in the kitchen."

Joe nodded his head thoughtfully, "That sounds like a good idea."

Gene started sketching out a course. The course ran from the pig pen, past the barn, past the back door to the kitchen and ended near the back vegetable garden. He turned the paper of to Joe for his approval. "Gene, that looks right fine."

Gene was thoughtfully chewing on the end of his pencil, "Joe we should mark the course with something. I just don't know what to use."

"Barrels?" asked Joe.

Gene shook his head, "I don't think we have enough of those. Plus there filled with stuff, I don't know that we have any empty ones."

The lightbulb went off in Joe's mind. "Heh Gene, what about hay bales. Those shouldn't be too hard to move if we do it together."

Gene smiled, "That's a great idea!"

The boys went to bed happy with their plan for a pig race tomorrow.

The next day, the boys started working on their plan. Gene wasn't sure how he was going to get the lard out of the kitchen without Silas knowing. He didn't think Silas would just hand over a jar of lard. While he and Joe were setting out the hay bales to mark the course, he kept his eye on the back door of the kitchen. Finally, Silas opened the back door and headed out to the back garden. Gene ran up to the kitchen, as Silas closed the back door.

Silas eye him suspiciously, "What're ya doing Mr. Gene?"

"Um, me and Joe's thirsty, I was going to get some lemonade." Gene fibbed. It wasn't really a complete fib, they were thirsty and Gene was going to get them some lemonade.

Silas nodded his head. "You be careful getting that lemonade by yourself, maybe I should get it for you."

Gene panicked. "Uh, no Silas, I can get it. Gosh, I'm 10, I can get it by myself."

Silas smiled down at Gene, he wanted to be such a big boy, but he was still the baby boy of the family. "Ok, but you be careful, hear?"

Gene nodded his head. Gene entered the kitchen. He scooped out some lard from the jar into a small burlap bag he had brought in. He stuck the burlap in his shirt and grabbed two glasses of lemonade. He headed toward where Joe was sitting on a hay bale.

"Did you get the lard?" asked Joe.

Gene nodded yes, pulling the bag out of his shirt. Some of the lard had seeped out and was on his shirt. He looked down at his shirt, he hoped it wouldn't stain. Mama would be furious. He was watching his friend, whose eyes had gotten big. "Joe?"

"Nick," Joe hissed.

Gene needed to get rid of that bag of lard. He dropped it behind the hay bale Joe was sitting on and turned around. "Heh, Nick."

Nick eyed his little brother. "Whatcha doing little boy?"

Gene rolled his eyes. He hated when Nick or Jarod called him a little boy. It made him feel like such a baby, especially in front of his friend Joe. "We're building a course to run a race," Gene said proudly.

Nick raised his eyebrows surprised. Leave it to Gene to engineer something. That little boy was so smart, he was just like Jarod. Nick smiled and patted Gene on the shoulder. "Ok, but those hay bales need to go back where you found them when you're done."

Gene nodded his head in affirmation, "Ok, Nick."

Joe and Gene had just finished laying out the course when Kathleen and Ellie appeared. "Heh Joe, whatch ya doing?" asked Ellie.

"We're going to have pig races. Remember the pig races at the fair in Virginia City?"

Ellie nodded her head.

"Well, we're gonna do it here."

"Can we do it too?" asked Kathleen, looking at Gene with hopeful eyes.

Gene looked at Joe, "What do you think, Joe?"

Joe shrugged his shoulders, "I guess it would be ok, I mean we're using the piglets. The piglets should be small enough for the girls."

Kathleen smiled at Joe, "How?"

"Ok, so we grease up the piglets with lard, we put them in the course and you and Ellie chase them to the end of the course. The first one to catch a piglet wins."

Ellie and Kathleen nodded.

Joe and Gene picked up a couple of piglets and grabbed the bag of lard. The pigs were squealing like crazy. The children were laughing so hard, they were crying. Once the boys got two piglets greased, they looked at the girls. "Let us go first and then we'll get some for you," said Joe.

"Ok," the girls said at the same time.

The boys put the piglets between the hay bales. The piglets took off squealing. Joe and Gene started chasing the piglets trying to grab them. The piglets were too slick to be caught. Ellie and Kathleen were shouting for their respective brothers to catch a piglet. All was going well until the piglets got near the back door to the kitchen. Gene had forgotten to close the kitchen door and the boys hadn't put the hay bales close enough together, there was a hole in the course. The piglets exited the course and headed right inside the house. The boys jumped over the hay bales and followed the piglets into the house. The piglets ran around the kitchen squealing. The boys chased them around the kitchen, knocking over bins, chairs, busting a sack of flour and just when the boys thought the piglets were cornered, the piglets ran off into the parlor.

Horrified, the boys raced into the parlor, right into Adam and Jarod coming in the front door. Both boys gulped. Jarod put his hands on his hips, "What's going on here?"

Both boys stood up, they were covered in lard, flour and dirt. "Nothing, Jarod," Gene said.

Just then Jarod heard the squealing of the piglets. Jarod looked around, "What in the world? Did I just hear piglets in the house?"

Joe and Gene looked just about as guilty as they could. Ellie and Kathleen rushed into the parlor, "Who won?" Kathleen shouted before she noticed Jarod and Adam.

Adam gave Joe a piercing gaze, "Who won what?"

Ellie saw Adam. "Heh Addy," she ran over to him with her arms up.

Adam looked down indulgently at his baby sister. He picked her up and nuzzled her cheek. "Heh Princess, who won what?"

"Who won the piglet race," she said looking at Adam as if he should already know.

"Piglet races?" asked Adam and Jarod simultaneously.

The two very scared piglets raced across the parlor into the library. Jarod looked at Adam. Adam put Ellie down. Adam and Jarod corralled the piglets into a corner and tried to pick them up. "Ugh," said Adam, "their covered in grease." Right then the light bulb went on in Adam's head. He looked at Jarod, "I think I know what's going on."

Jarod turned to Gene, "Go get a basket from the kitchen."

Gene obeyed immediately. He brought the basket to Jarod. Jarod grabbed the basket angrily from Gene. Adam and Jarod managed to get the piglets into the basket. Jarod handed the basket over to Adam. "Would you mind taking these piglets back to the pigpen?"

Adam shook his head and sighed. How could Joe get in so much trouble in such a short time? He was just sure that this had been Joe's idea. Jarod then turned all his attention on the two errant little boys. "I don't want to even hear about this until…."

Then Jarod heard Silas yell, "Oh my Lord, what happened to my kitchen?"

Jarod inhaled, pinched the top of his nose and looked at the boys. "You two get in that kitchen and help Silas clean up, then you go put all those hay bales I saw in the yard back where you found them, then you go take a bath and then you come see me in the library. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Jarod," mumbled Gene.

"Yes sir," said Joe.

Both boys walked by Jarod to head to the kitchen. Jarod popped them both on the behind. Joe looked surprised. He never expected Jarod to pop him.

Jarod looked down at both of them, "March!" he commanded.

The boys made a hasty retreat to the kitchen. Joe turned to Gene and whispered, "It was fun."

Gene just nodded in agreement.

Kathleen and Ellie were disappointed, they wanted to have a piglet race. "Jarod, can't we have a piglet race like Joe and Gene?" asked Kathleen.

"No. Where's Audra anyway? She's supposed to be watching you." Jarod asked.

Kathleen just shrugged her shoulders. "She said we could go outside."

Jarod sighed, he would have to catch up with Audra. "Girls, go upstairs and find something to do."

Kathleen sighed. She knew not to argue with Jarod when he used that tone of voice. She grabbed Ellie's hand, "Come on Ellie."

Adam came back inside, "Where are our little miscreants?"

Jarod smiled, "I told them to go help Silas clean up the kitchen, put the hay bales back, take a bath and then come find me in the library."

Adam nodded in agreement.

"Uh Adam," Jarod said running his hand through his hair, "I popped Joe on the behind earlier."

Adam snickered. "That pop is going to feel like a feather when Pa gets hold of him."

"Yeah, unfortunately since Father died, that's my job, now." Jarod said.

"Yeah, if Pa isn't around, that's my job as well." Adam said sympathizing with his friend.

Adam and Jarod sat in the parlor discussing this and that until the two boys reappeared ready to take a bath. Jarod looked at the boys. "Gene, go take a bath in Mother's bathroom, Joe you can use the one in the hall upstairs."

Both boys nodded. Adam rose. "I think I'll go help Joe."

Jarod looked surprised, "You still help Joe take a bath?"

Adam shook his head, "No, I just want to talk to him. But I do want to make sure he gets all that grease and flour out of his hair."

Adam headed up the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door. "Joe?"

"Yeah?" asked Joe.

"I want to come in and talk to you."

"Come in," sighed Joe.

Adam entered the bathroom. Joe looked at Adam, he looked a little scared. Adam chuckled a little, he must have thought that Adam was going to punish him. "Did you get an extra set of clothes to put on?"

Joe shook his head no. "I'll be right back," said Adam exiting the bathroom to retrieve a fresh set of clothes.

Adam came back in the bathroom and Joe was trying to get the grease and flour out of his hair. "Need help, buddy?"

While Adam was soaping Joe's hair up, he asked, "What happened out there?"

Joe explained the whole plan to Adam. Adam shook his head in amazement. "So this was your idea?"

Joe just nodded. Adam smiled to himself. This one was going to be a trial to raise.

"Adam, are you going to give me a spanking?" Joe blurted out.

"Nope!" said Adam as he soaped up Joe's hair.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief. "But Pa and Aunt Victoria will be back from town tonight and I don't know what Pa's going to do."

"Oh," said Joe, the tears starting to form in his eyes.

Adam's heart went out to his little brother. The boy just didn't think things through. "And Joe?"

Joe looked up at his brother miserably, "Yes, Adam?"

"You're going to accept whatever punishment Jarod dishes out without complaining."

Joe nodded his head. By this time, Adam had managed to get all the muck out of Joe's hair. "You ready to get out?" asked Adam.

"Yeah," said Joe.

"Ok, go ahead and get dried off and dressed, Jarod is waiting in the library," said Adam exiting the bathroom.

Joe sighed, he was really in for it. Pa was going to whale the tar out of him. Well, it was almost worth it, chasing those piglets was fun. He finished dressing and headed toward the library. Meanwhile, Gene was finished with his bath and getting dressed. He also headed for the library.

Both boys ended up in the library at the same time. They went to stand in front of Jarod's desk. "I want the whole story and I want it right now," Jarod demanded.

"Jarod, it was all my fault," Joe blurted out.

Gene looked at his friend shocked. "No it wasn't Jarod, I was just as much a part of it."

Jarod sighed, "Now boys, how did this come about?"

Joe and Gene related the events of the night before and up until the time the piglets got into the parlor. Jarod tried very hard to not laugh. The whole situation was actually pretty funny. The boys were actually pretty clever to come up with this whole thing. Jarod put on his "Pappy face". "Joe, I expect you to tell your Pa when he gets here, I will abide by his punishment for you. You're excused. I suggest you go to Gene's room until dinner."

Joe nodded gratefully. Well, he didn't know how grateful he would be when his father got hold of him. But at least he had a reprieve for now.

Jarod turned his attention to his little brother. "Come on Gene, you know what to expect."

Gene backed up a step, "Please Jarod, we didn't know this was going to happen. We didn't know we were going to cause trouble."

Jarod thought about it for a minute. That was true. The boys hadn't set out to cause trouble. Trouble just seemed to find them. "I'll tell you what, I can either give you extra chores or you can get a spanking and get it over with."

"Extra chores," Gene said immediately.

Jarod chuckled. He reached for Gene to give him a hug. Gene really needed the reassurance that Jarod wasn't really mad. Gene melted into Jarod's hug. "I'm really sorry Jarod, I wasn't trying to be bad."

Jarod ruffled his hair, "I know, but you really need to think things through before you jump in with both feet. You will be helping Silas for the next week. You will do whatever chores he gives you, without complaint."

"A whole week?" whined Gene.

Jarod raised his eyebrows, "Do you want to change your mind about your punishment?"

Gene shook his head emphatically, "No."

"Ok, little boy, go on up to your room until dinner" said Jarod turning him toward the door with a swat to his behind.

Wisely, Gene said nothing and headed to his room.

The boys stayed in Gene's room, until they heard the front door open and close. Then suddenly Joe heard, "JOSEPH!"

Joe gulped. "Yes sir?" Joe asked appearing at the top of the stairs.

Pa looked madder than Joe could remember. "COME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

Joe scrambled down the stairs and stood in front of his Pa. Pa pointed to the library. "MARCH!" Pa commanded.

Joe beat feet into the library. Pa looked at his errant son. The poor boy was shaking. Oh, good heavens, he didn't mean to scare him. "Joseph, look at me."

Joe raised his shaking head to his Pa. His eyes were swimming in misery. "Yes Pa?" he whispered.

Pa held his arms out to Joe, Joe ran into his Pa's arms and buried his head in Pa's chest. "I'm sorry Pa."

"Joseph, what is this about? Why are you shaking?" Pa asked, placing his hand under Joe's chin and lifting it to look at him.

"I just don't want you to be mad, Pa. We weren't trying to get into trouble. We didn't know the piglets would get into the house."

"I see," said Pa, "is there something else?"

"I don't want a spanking Pa." Joe nearly whispered.

Ah, Pa thought that's the real problem. "Joseph, I am going to give you the same choice that Jarod gave Gene."

Joe looked perplexed. He looked at his Pa quizzically.

"You can help Silas in the kitchen the rest of our visit. You will do any chore he assigns you without complaint. Or you can take the spanking."

"Chores," said Joe immediately.

Hoss noticed the big smile on Pa's face. "Heh Pa, whatch ya smiling at?"

"Piglets," responded Pa.

"Piglets?" questioned Hoss.

**Next Up: Getting Ready to Take the Stage**


	5. Chapter 5

STOCKTON

**Chapter 5 – Getting Ready to Take the Stage**

By the time Ellie and Adam arrived at home. Both of them were exhausted. Adam was grateful to hand Ellie off to Hop Sing. Hop Sing met them as they rode up. Hop Sing lifted his arms up to Ellie. He pulled her off Sport and set her ground. He took her hand, "Come on Missy Eleanor, you need to eat dinner."

Ellie nodded her head in agreement, she was starving. Adam hadn't realized that they missed lunch when they went up to the lumber camp. "What are we having for dinner Hop Sing?" she asked pulling on Hop Sing's arm.

Hop Sing smiled at Ellie, "Hop Sing make you roasted chicken, macaroni and cheese and apple pie."

A big smile spread across her face. That was one of her favorite meals. "Come on Missy Eleanor, you come with Hop Sing and wash for dinner."

Ellie entered the kitchen and stood on the stool next to the pump at the sink. Hop Sing got her washed up and led her back to the table. By the time they got to the table, Adam had arrived from putting up his horse and washing up himself. "Ellie, after supper we can read for a little while and then we need to go to bed, it's been a long day."

Ellie was happy that Adam said they could read, that meant he wasn't mad any more. "But Adam, I'm not tired," she said.

Adam didn't really need to argue the point, she would sit in his lap to read and before he would know it, she would be sound asleep. Adam and Ellie finished eating and headed for the great room. "Do you want to go get your book?" he asked her. "Put your night gown on before you come back down," he called to her.

Ellie just nodded and ran up the stairs. She came back with _Rapunzel_. Adam looked at the book, that hadn't been the one they were reading. "Where's _Hansel and Gretel_?" he asked.

Ellie started twisting her hair. "It's upstairs. It's getting to the scary part with the witch, I don't want anything scary."

"Ok, Princess, _Rapunzel_ it is."

Adam went to sit in the blue chair. Ellie followed him and climbed into his lap and leaned her head against his chest. Adam started reading and before he knew it, he heard his sister's deep breathing. She was fast asleep. Adam chuckled. She was so insistent that she wasn't tired. He carefully put the book on the table and carried her up to bed.

The next morning, Adam was sitting at the breakfast table when Ellie appeared. She was still sleepy and once again dragging Mooch by the tail. He held his arms out to her. She went to Adam as he enveloped her in a hug. She yawned and then went to sit in her chair. Hop Sing bustled in and put eggs and bacon on her plate.

"Addy, can I just have a biscuit?" she asked.

Adam shook his head no. "No, you need to eat and I don't want to argue about it."

Ellie started to complain and then looked at her big brother. He looked very serious. She decided this was one time not to complain, Adam didn't seem to be very patient this morning.

"Ellie, I have a mountain of chores to do before we leave tonight. I want you to go do your chores and then come tell Hop Sing you're done. Then you stay inside until I come back."

"But Adam, I can't even go outside?" she pouted. She really hated being confined to the house. She loved playing outside. She normally got to play outside because she was with Joe or Hoss.

Adam shook his head, "No, there's no one home to watch you. Hop Sing has too many things to do inside. I need you to stay inside."

Ellie just frowned.

Adam looked at that frown. "Ellie, stay inside and mind Hop Sing."

"OK," she said petulantly.

Adam headed for the door and turned to his little sister, "Be good. I'll be back after lunch."

Ellie went to find Hop Sing. She let him know that she would go take care of the chickens and then come right back. She went to the chicken coop and spread the feed around and collected the eggs. She wondered if she should clean the coop. She and Joe had cleaned it on Sunday, so it didn't seem like it really needed cleaning. She decided to let it go for now. Once she finished her chores, she found Hop Sing in the kitchen. "I'm done with the chickens," she told him as she handed him the eggs.

Hop Sing accepted the eggs from her. "Very good job missy. Now you fill the wood box for Hop Sing."

Ellie frowned, that was normally Joe's job. "Missy fill wood box, so Hop Sing can make you cookies to take on the stage coach."

That statement completely changed her attitude. She was happy to fill the wood box if she was going to get cookies. Ellie finished filling the wood box. Once she was done, she went to search out Hop Sing to let him know she was done. "Missy pack for trip?" he asked.

Ellie shook her head no. "You tell Hop Sing what you want and Hop Sing pack for you."

"I don't know how many I need," she said to Hop Sing. Hop Sing held up 5 fingers. You pick this many dresses."

Ellie chose 5 dresses and her regular petticoats. Hop Sing nodded approvingly, "What Missy need for night time?"

Ellie handed him Mooch. Hop Sing laughed, "No missy, what you want to sleep in?"

"Oh," she said handing him her nightgown.

Hop Sing held up her ruffled petticoats. "You take this," he stated.

Ellie screwed up her face. "No, Hop Sing, I hate those. They're itchy."

Hop Sing packed them anyway. Ellie saw him put the petticoats in the valise. She would just take them out later. "Ok missy, we done. You go down stairs and play. Hop Sing have work to do here."

Ellie just nodded. She was already bored and really wanted to go outside. She headed to the front door and started to open the door and then she remembered what Adam had said about being good. She had already lost her chance to go the International House yesterday, she didn't want to ruin her chances for today. She sighed and turned back toward the great room. She really wanted to swing, but she didn't have permission. Papa had built her a swing on the tree by the kitchen door. Ellie decided that she would play Jacks, it wasn't as much fun by yourself, but she couldn't think of anything else she wanted to do.

Hop Sing finally came down stairs. Ellie stopped playing Jacks and ran to him. "Hop Sing, can I go swing?" she asked.

Hop Sing looked down at his little mistress, "You come make cookies with Hop Sing."

Ellie whooped. She loved to make cookies with Hop Sing. He let her stir and pour stuff in the bowl and everything. He didn't treat her like a baby. He treated her like a big girl. The only thing she wasn't allowed to do was go near the stove or the oven. The two got to baking cookies. Ellie was having such a good time, she completely forgot about going outside. They finished baking around lunch time. Hop Sing looked at Ellie, "Missy, Hop Sing make you lunch. What you want from Hop Sing?"

Ellie thought about it a minute. "Can I have what we had last night?"

Hop Sing smiled and made her a plate of cold chicken. He heated up the macaroni and cheese on the stove and added it to her plate. Ellie ate lunch in the kitchen with Hop Sing and wondered about Adam.

"Hop Sing, when's Adam coming home?"

"Don't know. Mister Adam, very busy today."

Ellie really wanted to go outside. She looked at Hop sing. "Hop Sing, can I go swing?"

Hop Sing thought for a minute, "Mister Adam say you stay inside," he hedged.

"But he said that because he said there was no one home to watch me. Can you watch me?" she asked, "Please?"

"Ok," Hop Sing agreed, "just for a little bit."

"Thanks," gushed Ellie. She was grateful to be outside for a while. While she was swinging, Hop Sing ran into the kitchen to get some lemonade. The minute Hop Sing disappeared into the kitchen, Adam road up and saw Ellie swinging and no one else in sight.

Adam huffed. He jumped off of Sport and headed over to Ellie. "Ellie?"

"Hi Adam," she said cheerily.

"I thought I told you to stay inside today?" he said shaking his finger at her.

"Yes, but Hop Sing said I could swing because he was watching me. I wasn't here by myself." She said looking around for Hop Sing.

Adam started to reprimand her when Hop Sing exited the kitchen with a glass of lemonade for Ellie. "Ah, Mister Adam, I just go get missy some lemonade. You want lemonade?"

Adam had to chuckle to himself. He sure had been jumping to conclusions lately. He was definitely not ready to be a father. He didn't have the patience. He wondered again how Pa handled all 4 children at the same time. "No thanks, I need to go put up Sport."

"Adam, can I still swing?" asked Ellie.

"No, we need to get ready to go to town. Remember we are going to spend the night in the hotel and have dinner at the International House. You need to go change into one of your Sunday dresses and we need to get you packed."

Hop Sing broke in, "Mister Adam, I already pack for missy."

Adam nodded gratefully to Hop Sing, "Thank you. Ellie, I'm going to take a bath and get ready. Hop Sing is going to help you get dressed. When you're done, wait for me in the great room."

Ellie looked at Adam, "Ok," she said as Hop Sing held out his hand to lead Ellie upstairs.

Ellie chose her blue Sunday dress and Hop Sing got her ready. She waited in the great room for Adam, just like he said. She was playing with her paper dolls. Adam finished his bath and dressing and came down the stairs to see Ellie exactly where she was supposed to be. He was very pleased. "Good job, Ellie. Thank you for minding." Adam praised her.

Ellie looked at him strangely, "Adam, I always mind."

Adam chuckled, "Always?"

"Well almost always," she said.

Adam grinned and turned toward Hop Sing, "I'm going to have Charlie drive us into town. I hope you have a pleasant time in San Francisco."

"Thank you, Mister Adam," the little Chinese cook said bowing to Adam. Hop Sing turned to Ellie, "You be a good girl for your brother."

Ellie frowned, why was everyone always telling her to be good, she thought she was very good. "Yes Hop Sing," she answered.

The ride from the ranch into town was pleasant. The ride was fairly quiet, Ellie was thinking about what to have at the International House. She was wondering if they had strawberry ice cream. She hoped that Adam would let her have some. Adam was thinking about how to keep Ellie entertained on the ride. The two day ride was going to very boring for her. He came up with a couple of ideas.

Adam hopped off the buckboard when they arrived in town. He picked up Ellie and put her on the ground and grabbed their valises in one hand and held out his other hand for her. Ellie put her hand in Adam's hand, as they both turned to the foreman that had driven them in. "Thanks Charlie, take care of the Ponderosa while were gone."

"Bye, Mr. Charlie," said Ellie.

"Bye Adam. Eleanor?" Charlie said fixing his eyes on Ellie.

"Yes sir?" she asked.

"Be a good girl for your brother."

Ellie was really getting frustrated, another person telling her to be good. Gee, what is with the adults? It was if she wasn't a good girl, which she certainly was, but she knew better than to argue or be disrespectful to Charlie. She just nodded her head.

Adam led her over to the hotel. "We are going to drop off our things at the hotel, then we are going to run by Mr. Callahan's before he closes, and then we can go to the International House."

"Ok, but why do we have to go to Mr. Callahan's?" Ellie asked.

"You'll see," said Adam mysteriously.

Ellie sighed, she really just wanted to go to the International House to see if they had strawberry ice cream. She didn't want to hurt her chances of getting ice cream, so she obediently followed Adam to the hotel. Once they dropped off their valises, they headed for Mr. Callahan's.

As they entered the store, Adam said, "Ellie?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes Adam, I know, I'm not allowed to touch anything."

Adam grinned. "Well, what I was going to say is that the stage coach ride can be kind of boring, so we are going to walk around the store and see if we can find something to keep you busy."

Ellie's eyes got big, "Oh! Really, can I pick out anything?" she asked.

Adam laughed, "Anything within reason."

Ellie got confused, "What's that mean?"

Adam looked at his little sister with her eyes shining with excitement. She sure was cute. "Well, it has to be something that you can do sitting down because you will be sitting most of the trip."

"Oh, ok," she nodded her head, "like a book?"

Adam smiled, "Yes a book would be a good choice."

Adam and Ellie walked up to the counter and told Mr. Callahan what they were looking for. Mr. Callahan looked over the counter at Ellie. "Ellie, I just got a book that's a collection of short stories, do you want to see if it's too hard for you to read?"

Adam smiled, he figured she could read an easy story book. He hoped this book was not too hard. Ellie was actually a very good reader, but she was still only in 2nd grade.

"Yes sir, I bet I can read it. I'm really good at reading. Right Adam?" she turned around asking her brother.

"Yes," Adam agreed, "you are a very good reader."

Mr. Callahan went to the back of his store and brought out the book. The cover was beautiful, it had a fairy princess on it. He handed it to Ellie.

"Look Adam, it has a fairy princess on the front." Ellie said in awe.

"Let's take a look at it," said Adam with his hand out.

Ellie placed the book in his hand and looked on while Adam paged through the book. Adam sighed with relief, this book looked to a perfect read for a 2nd grader. He looked up at Mr. Callahan, "Dave this looks perfect, we'll take it."

Ellie was so excited. "Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Mr. Callahan." Ellie gushed as she clutched the book to her chest.

Adam held out his hand and Ellie grabbed his hand with her free hand. "Let's go to the International House." He said smiling indulgently at his little sister.

"Heh, Addy?" she asked.

Uh oh, he thought, she wants something if she's calling me Addy. "Um hmm?"

"If they have strawberry ice cream, can I have some?" asked Ellie looking up to Adam with hopeful eyes.

"You eat your dinner and I think we can do that," said Adam.

"Wow, thanks Adam." Ellie said gratefully. This was turning out to be the best day ever, a new book and strawberry ice cream.

They entered the International House and sat down at a table. The waitress came over. Before the waitress could say anything, Ellie asked, "Ma'am, do you have strawberry ice cream?"

The waitress laughed, "Oh, I'm sorry honey, we have peach ice cream today."

Ellie slumped, she really wanted strawberry ice cream. Adam immediately noticed the attitude change. "Do you want chicken and dumplings?" he asked.

"I'm not hungry," Ellie angrily stated crossing her arms over her chest.

Adam looked at the waitress, "Will you excuse us just a moment, ma'am?"

"Of course, sir." The waitress walked away with a chuckle.

Adam leaned very close to Ellie, "Eleanor, you better change your attitude right now," he whispered.

"But Adam, I really wanted strawberry ice cream," whined Ellie.

"Eleanor, stop whining right this minute. They don't have strawberry today. They only have peach. If you don't want peach that's fine, but don't complain. You've been so good today, don't spoil it by whining. If you continue, you're going to be sitting on that stage with a sore bottom."

Ellie straightened up immediately. "I'm sorry, Adam," she said contritely. "I'll be good, honest."

Adam huffed. "You will apologize to the waitress for your little tantrum."

"Yes Adam," Ellie said with her head down. She almost started to cry. It's so hard to be good all the time. She really wanted her Papa.

The waitress came back to take their order. Adam ordered pot roast and Ellie ordered her chicken and dumplings. "Ma'am," Ellie ventured.

"Yes honey," the waitress looked at her kindly.

"I want to apologize, I just really wanted strawberry ice cream."

"Oh, honey, I understand, strawberry is my favorite, too."

Adam and Ellie finished their dinner and headed back to the hotel. It had been a long tiring day for both of them. Adam hoped to get a good night's sleep.

**Next Up: Trials and Tribulations on the Road**


	6. Chapter 6

STOCKTON

**Chapter 6 – Trials and Tribulations on the Road**

Joe finally gets to tell another part of the story:

While Ellie was wearing Adam out back in Virginia City, Pa was having his own trials and tribulations keeping an eye on Joe and keeping him out of trouble. Pa wasn't sure if Joe was going to wear him out first, or if Pa was going to wear Joe's backside out.

Joe continues his story:

Pa had finished reminiscing about the piglet races.

Hoss looked at his father strangely for a moment, then he remembered the piglet races the last time they went to Stockton. He started laughing. "Oh, I remember, you talking about the last time we was in Stockton and Little Joe and Gene came up with the piglet races?"

Pa nodded his head.

"Yeah, Joe, I can't believe Pa didn't whale the tar out of ya. Ya'll made such a mess." Hoss teased Joe.

"Shut up, Hoss!" Joe shouted.

Hoss started making little piglet squeally noises at Joe.

Joe started to steam, "Shut up, Hoss, or I'm gonna pound you!"

Hoss laughed at the very thought of his little brother, who probably weighed 100 pounds dripping wet, pounding on him. All Hoss would have to do his hold his arms and pick him up off the ground. "I'd like to see that," joked Hoss.

That did it for Joe. He rode up along side of Hoss and kicked his leg viciously. Hoss jumped, which made Chubby jump and take off. "Dad burn you Little Joe," Hoss hollered as he got Chubby under control.

Pa was seething. He looked at his two boys. "Hoss, stop teasing him and Joseph, if I ever see you do something like that again, I don't care where we are or who's around, I will give you the tanning of your life. What if Hoss had fallen off and broken something because his horse got spooked?"

Joe didn't trust himself to speak. He was furious at Hoss and upset with himself. He didn't really want to hurt Hoss, he just lost his temper. He just sat there smoldering.

Pa was getting angry, he expected an answer. "Did you boys hear me?"

"Yes Pa," he heard from Hoss. "Sorry Little Joe," Hoss apologized to his brother.

"Joseph?" asked Pa.

"Yes sir," Joe spat out.

That disrespect was making Pa wonder if it was a good idea to take Joe on this trip. Then again, Hoss could really get under Joe's skin and Hoss knew it. Pa pulled Buck up to Cochise. He grabbed Cochise's reigns. "Joseph, look at me."

Joe tore his eyes off the ground and looked at his father. "My patience is wearing thin boy, you are now on the count of one, if I get to three, you will not like the consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

Joe gulped, he knew what that meant. He had no desire to ride on a sore bottom the rest of the trip. "Yes Pa," he whispered.

Pa nodded his head as he released the reigns.

The rest of the afternoon went fairly smoothly. Both boys behaved themselves. Pa was starting to relax. All was well until they stopped for the evening.

"This looks like a good place to stop," said Pa indicating the line shack up ahead.

The three dismounted and took care of the horses. "Hoss, why don't you see if you can catch some fish for supper, Joe you go gather fire wood, and I'm going to get the fire started."

Joe was still mad about Hoss and the teasing, he was still in a foul mood. "Why can't I go fishing and Hoss get the wood?" demanded Joe.

Pa was in no mood to listen to a sassy little boy. "First of all because I told you to do something and I expect you to obey me. Second, you're too young to go by yourself," he ground out.

Joe was not really thinking straight, had he really been listening, he would have realized that he was about to cross the line with Pa.

"I go fishing at home by myself all the time," Joe said defensively.

"Joseph!" Pa said in his warning voice.

"Ok, ok, I'm going," Joe ground out.

Hoss just looked at Pa, "Aw, Pa, he's still mad about earlier. He just needs to cool off."

"He better cool off quickly, he's about to reach two." Pa said angrily.

"Yes sir," said Hoss backing out of the shack. He decided being at the stream all by himself without his little brother or his Pa would be a welcome reprieve.

Joe mumbled all the way, while he was collecting wood. "I'm so darn tired of them treating like a baby, I'm so tired of Hoss teasing me, I hate this!" he mumbled too himself kicking a rock. "I'm gonna get Hoss back, if it's the last thing I do," he continued mumbling to himself. As he started to pick up wood for the fire, he formulated a plan. He was scouring the ground for a snake. He finally found a garter snake, not poisonous, those things wouldn't hurt a fly. But, Hoss hated snakes. Hoss wasn't afraid of much, but he was scared to death of snakes. Joe caught the snake and tied it in his neckerchief. He grinned, he was really going to get Hoss by putting it in his bedroll. All he had to do was to make sure Pa didn't see him.

Joe arrived back at the shack with the wood and dumped it next to the fire place. He looked around the shack and realized that Pa had already laid out the bedrolls. Pa was waiting for the firewood. "I'm going to get a fire started, please go to the well and bring in a bucket of water, so we can wash up."

"You ain't gonna make me take a bath, are ya?" Joe asked. He still hated taking a bath, even at 12. He fought it every step of the way.

Pa shook his head no, "No, we don't really have time to heat up all that water and besides, if you didn't notice there is no bath tub."

Joe heaved a sigh of relief.

Pa just chuckled to himself and he wants to be treated like a grownup, Pa thought.

Hoss arrived with a nice string of fat trout from the stream and entered the shack. He held up the string for Pa's inspection "Look Pa, I got a whole mess of 'em."

Pa nodded his head approvingly, "Great job son, let's go outside and clean them." Pa and Hoss exited the shack to clean the fish. As they closed the door, Pa turned to Joe, "Joe watch that fire, if it gets to low come and get me."

"Yes Pa," Joe said. Joe smiled, this was the perfect chance to put the snake in Hoss' bedroll. He quickly untied the neckerchief and put the snake under the blanket Hoss was using for a pillow.

Pa and Hoss came in with the cleaned fish. "We have enough to make fish for breakfast."

Joe made a face, "Who eats fish for breakfast?"

Pa grinned, "You eat what you can on the trail. Of course you don't have to eat fish for breakfast."

"Really?" Joe asked.

"Of course not, you can have some beef jerky or you can skip breakfast." Pa said.

Joe just scowled.

Pa turned back to his task of making the boys supper. He took out a can of beans and a can of peaches. Joe looked at the can of peaches. Well at least he was going to have a yummy dessert. He loved peaches. As they finished supper, it was getting dark outside. Pa turned to the boys, "Time to turn in boys, it's been a long day and we will have an even longer one tomorrow."

Joe turned toward his bunk and hid his smile. This was going to be so good. He had kept himself from being nervous and jumpy during supper or at least if he was, Pa didn't notice. "Goodnight, boys." Pa said as he blew the lamp out.

"Night, Pa." the boys said in unison.

Joe almost couldn't contain himself. It was pitch black in the cabin. He heard Hoss sit down on his bunk. Hoss liked to sleep with his hands under his pillow. As Hoss slipped his hand underneath his pillow, he felt something cold and slithery. He yelled, "Arghhhhhhhhh! What was that?" as he jumped up and knocked into the table in the dark.

Joe couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard, he was crying. By this time, Pa had relit the lamp. Hoss was holding his shin from bumping into the table and Joe was laughing hysterically.

Pa's eyes narrowed at his youngest son. "Joseph!" he thundered.

"Aw, Pa it was just a garter snake, they don't hurt nothing."

Hoss was seeing red by this point, he went to grab Joe, "Joe, I'm gonna pound you into the ground."

Joe quickly jumped off his bunk and maneuvered himself behind Pa. "I was just funning ya Hoss, why you being such a baby," Joe taunted.

Hoss looked at Pa, "Let me at him, Pa. I'm gonna pound him."

Pa placed his hand on Hoss' arm. "You'll do no such thing. I'll take care of this."

Joe stuck his tongue out at Hoss. He enjoyed himself for a split second, until what Pa had said sunk in. Pa said he will handle it. He started to move away from Pa, maybe he should just let Hoss pound him. Hoss was such a softy, it wouldn't pound him too much, would he?

As Joe tried to step away, Pa grabbed his arm. Joe winced. Pa had a steel grip. He turned Joe around and swatted his behind a few times.

Ow Pa, that hurts," Joe cried in surprise. Joe had changed to his nightshirt and had almost no protection from those mighty hands of his Pa.

"It's supposed to," growled Pa. He stopped swatting and grabbed Joe's chin and turned Joe's face toward his with his hand. "Son, those swats are going to be nothing if you make it to three, you are now on two."

Joe gulped.

Pa still had Joe's chin in his hand. Pa dropped Joe's chin. He turned Joe toward his bunk with a mighty swat. "Go to bed, I don't want to hear a peep out of you until I give you permission to get up. Understood?"

"Yes Pa," Joe said as evenly as he could. He was not about to poke the bear with any kind of disrespect.

The night passed peaceably. The snake had slithered off to parts unknown. Joe had to get up once to use the outhouse. He didn't know what to do, Pa told him he couldn't get up without permission. He didn't want to wake up Pa. He fretted. Finally, he couldn't wait any longer. He got up and tiptoed outside. When he finished, he very carefully opened the door and tiptoed back to his bed. He was just about to crawl back into his bedroll, when he heard a very very angry voice.

"Joseph, I thought I told you not to get up." Pa hissed.

"I know Pa, but I needed the outhouse really bad and you were asleep, and I didn't want to wake you up."

Pa sighed, "Go to sleep."

"Yes Pa," Joe whispered.

Pa got up before the boys and started breakfast, he wanted to get an early start. It was going to be another long day. He finished making breakfast and woke up the boys. "We have a long ride ahead of us and I don't want any nonsense out of either one of you, is that clear?" Pa asked as he put breakfast on the table.

Both boys nodded their heads. Joe sure didn't want to get in any more trouble. He'd already made it to two and he didn't want to make it three. He resolved to do his best to be on his best behavior. He very rarely made it to three with Pa. Those few times that he did, he sorely regretted.

The rest of the day passed fairly smoothly. The boys seemed to be getting along well. Joe seemed to be out of his grumpy mood. Pa was resting easy. All was well until they stopped for the night. There was no line shack this time. They were just going to make camp. Joe was a little nervous. He really didn't like sleeping outside at night, it gave him the willies.

Pa looked at the boys, "Hoss grab your rifle, we're going to see if we can get a prairie hen or a rabbit. Joe, go gather the fire wood and then come back to camp."

Joe wanted to say he wasn't a baby and could go hunting with them, but he knew better. He just nodded his head. Pa and Hoss left the camp in search of some game. Joe kicked at the dirt. He was getting tired of being treated like such a baby. As he started to leave camp to collect wood, he noticed that Pa's pistol was in his holster on his bed roll. Joe's eyes shone. He could take the pistol and go find game. That would show his Pa how big he was and that he should be carrying a pistol. Adam and Hoss had been teaching him to shoot. He thought he was a pretty good shot.

Joe completely forgot about the wood and that he was perilously close to a three count and went in search of wild game. Meanwhile, Pa and Hoss had gotten two prairie hens, plenty for supper. They didn't want to kill any more. Pa had taught the boys to take no more than you need. They made it back to camp and Joe was nowhere to be seen.

Pa looked around, "I wonder where your brother is?"

Hoss shrugged his shoulders, "You know Joe, he probably got distracted by something and forgot all about the wood."

"Why can't he just follow a simple instruction?" Pa asked exasperated.

"Aw Pa, he don't mean not to mind, he's still just a little boy." Hoss tried to reassure his Pa.

Pa huffed. He was looking around the camp, when he noticed his empty holster on the blanket. "Son, did you move my pistol?

Hoss looked at him surprised, "No sir."

Just then they heard a shot. "It sounds like a pistol," Pa said hurrying toward the sound. "JOSEPH! JOSEPH! Where are you?" he shouted as he broke into a run. He was praying with all his might that Joe was unharmed. Pa finally heard Joe calling, "I'm here Pa."

Joe froze when he heard his father. He had planned on making it back to camp with some wild game before his Pa and brother got back. This was not Joe's lucky day, he had run into a wild boar. Joe had scrambled up a tree and was waiting for the boar to move on. Joe had taken a shot at the boar, but it was still head butting the tree Joe had climbed. Part of him knew he was going to get in trouble for taking the pistol, but he was so grateful his Pa was going to rescue him from the wild boar.

Pa reached the place where Joe had climbed up the tree, but he didn't see Joe. He did see a wild boar head butting a tree. Pa climbed behind a rock and shouted, "JOSEPH, where are you?"

"Look up Pa, I'm in the tree."

Pa looked up into the tree as Hoss arrived. Hoss took one look at his Pa looking up in the tree and his baby brother swinging his leg off the limb. He busted out laughing.

Pa turned to Hoss, "Hoss I need your help to get this boar out of here, so I can get Joe down."

Hoss was finally able to scare away the boar. Pa turned to Hoss. "Please help me get your brother."

Hoss walked over to the tree, "Come on Joe, climb on down."

Joe shook his head. He didn't want to come down for two reasons. The first one is that he was scared to death of heights, but more than that he was scared Pa was going to whale the tar out of him for taking the pistol.

"You scared?" ask Hoss.

Joe nodded his head. Hoss just didn't realize there a lot more reasons to be scared than the height of the tree. Hoss sighed as he climbed the tree. He reached the limb Joe was on and reached for him. Hoss hugged him tight and said, "It's ok buddy, I got ya now." Hoss held on to him until they got low enough for Pa to grab Joe. Pa grabbed him and hugged him. When Pa hugged him, he felt the pistol in the back of Joe's pants.

Pa held him at arm's length as he grabbed the pistol. "You took my pistol?"

Joe nodded.

"Don't you nod your head at me, boy, I want an answer." Pa stormed.

"Yes sir," Joe said barely above a whisper.

Pa turned to Hoss. "Please meet us back at the camp."

"Yes sir," said Hoss making a hasty retreat. He had a feeling of what was about to happen.

Pa gave Joe a menacing look, "You just hit three!"

That's where Joe stopped the story.

"Well don't stop there, what happened?" asked Clay.

Joe sighed, "I didn't sit well the rest of the trip. I was still hurting when we rode back."

Clay whistled, "You sure can be a trial Joe."

"Heh, I was only 12. I'm grown now."

Clay just grinned, Joe wasn't grown by a long shot.

**Next Up: The Stage Coach Ride**


	7. Chapter 7

STOCKTON

**Chapter 7 – The Stage Coach Ride**

Now that Joe had finished his story, Ellie was going to finish telling hers.

Adam and Ellie returned to the hotel. Luckily Adam got Ellie in bed with a minimum of fuss. He didn't even have to read to her, she just fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Adam smiled indulgently at his little sister. She sure looked like an angel when she was sleeping. He knew that she meant to be good and being away from Pa was hard on her. He breathed a sigh of contentment and hoped that the next two days on the stage were uneventful. He got in bed himself and slept like a log.

The next morning, Adam opened up his eyes to the sun shining into the room. Ellie was still sleeping. Adam washed up at the basin and got dressed and ready for the day. He turned to get Ellie up. She was still sound asleep. He shook her gently, "Ellie, it's time to get up."

"No, tired, go away," Ellie mumbled snuggling deeper into the bed.

"Come on Ellie, we have to get ready to take the stage, remember?" Adam reminded her.

Ellie didn't budge.

"Eleanor, do you want me to start counting?" Adam asked sternly.

That woke her up. She'd never in her life gotten to three with Papa or Adam. She didn't want Adam to start counting.

"No," Ellie said shaking her head furiously. Adam coughed into his hand to hide his laughter. He very rarely had to start counting with Ellie, now Joe was a whole other story. Having been on the receiving end of a three count by Pa more times than he was willing to count, he didn't blame Ellie one bit. It was a great deterrent.

"Ok, then, let's get up and get ready. Then we are going over to the International House for breakfast."

With the warning of Adam counting fresh on her mind, Ellie got herself dressed and turned around so Adam could button her up. Adam helped her brush her and put her hair ribbons in. He grabbed her hand and their luggage and headed for the stage depot. Ellie tugged on his hand, "Adam I thought we were going to the International House?"

"We are. I just wanted to drop off the luggage at the stage depot first," he answered.

"Oh," said Ellie.

They dropped off the luggage and headed for the International House. They sat at the same table that had the night before. The same waitress appeared. "Well, hello there, what can I get you?" she asked.

Adam ordered bacon, eggs and grits. He looked at Ellie.

"Adam, I'm not really hungry, can I just get something small?" Ellie pleaded.

Adam started to roll his eyes, when the waitress interrupted, "You know, we have a child's plate, 1 egg, 2 pieces of bacon and a biscuit with jam."

Adam gave Ellie a warning look. She knew that look. "Yes ma'am. Do you have strawberry jam?"

The waitress looked down at Ellie apologetically, "No sweetheart we don't, but we have peach jam and apple butter."

Ellie took a quick look at Adam, "Apple butter please." Adam nodded at her approvingly.

A short time later, the waitress brought their plates. As she set Ellie's plate down in front of her, Adam said, "Ellie eat the egg first, then you can have the biscuit."

"Ok," she said surprised. How did he know she was just going to eat the biscuit and just push the rest of her food around her plate. Adam smiled in his coffee cup. The waitress made a quick retreat so she would stand there laughing. That young man sure knew his little sister.

The two finished up breakfast and headed for the stage depot. Fortunately for them, the stage was actually on time for once. Adam started to hand up the luggage. He thought for a moment, "Ellie do you want Mooch? I already have your book out."

Ellie thought for a minute, "No thanks."

"Are you sure because I won't be able to get him for you until the stage coach stops for lunch," Adam warned her.

She nodded her head, "Yes, I'm sure."

Adam wasn't sure that was a good idea. Mooch was Ellie's comfort away from home. Maybe she was just growing up on him. "Ok, let's get in," he said as he opened the door to the stage and lifted her in.

Once all the passengers boarded, Ellie looked around. There were six passengers including her and Adam. She was glad she was so small, that meant she had plenty of room on the seat. Across from her was a beautiful lady that had a dog. Ellie was so excited, maybe she would get to hold the dog. Next to the lady with the dog was older man and next to him was a man, not as old as Papa, but not as young as Adam. There was an older lady sitting next to Adam.

The passengers introduced themselves. Adam started, shaking each one's hand, "Adam Cartwright and this is my sister, Ellie."

The lady next to Adam was Mrs. Applegate. The older man was Mr. Sanchez and the younger man was Bart Crosby. But Ellie only had eyes for that dog and didn't hear a single introduction until the lovely young lady spoke. "My name is Jennifer Fairweather and this is my dog, Sir Charles."

Ellie was in awe of the dog. It was black and white and had long silky hair. He even had a bow in his hair. Ellie turned to Adam and whispered, "Can I pet him?"

Adam smiled indulgently, "Well, you'll have to ask Miss Fairweather."

Even though Ellie was whispering, Jennifer could hear every word. She smiled over Ellie's head at Adam. "You know Mr. Cartwright, holding Sir Charles can be quite tiresome, do you think your sister might be willing to hold him?"

Adam looked expectantly at Ellie. Ellie's eyes lit up like it was Christmas. "Can I hold him Adam, can I really hold him?"

Adam nodded, "Well it seems that it would be nice if you could help out Miss Fairweather by holding Sir Charles."

Jennifer handed the dog to Ellie. Ellie was ecstatic. Adam mouthed 'thank you' to Jennifer.

Jennifer just gave him a big beautiful smile. Ellie was enamored with the dog, but Adam was enamored with the owner.

As Ellie accepted Sir Charles from Jennifer, she asked, "Ma'am, what kind of dog is this? He doesn't look like my dog. My dog's name is Shadow and he's a hound."

Jennifer laughed gaily, "You don't have to call ma'am. I'm probably not older than your brother. And Sir Charles is a Shih Tzu. He comes from Chinese royalty."

Ellie eyed her questioningly, she was supposed to call all adults Sir or Ma'am. Adam was an adult, but he was just her brother, so didn't have to say 'sir' to him. Well, not most of the time. "I have to call all adults sir or ma'am. Adam's an adult, he's 24, but since he's my brother, I don't have to say 'sir', at least not most of the time."

Jennifer smiled at her, "Well I'm only 23 and it makes me feel like my mama, so why don't you just call me Miss Jennifer."

Ellie just nodded her head and turned her attention to Sir Charles. She started having a conversation with him in earnest. She told him all about her papa, her brothers and the Ponderosa and how she and her brother were going to Stockton. Adam was worried that Ellie's chatter was going to drive the other passengers to distraction. He hated to tell her to be quiet, this was the happiest she had been since Pa left for Stockton. Adam started to take the dog from Ellie.

Ellie looked up at him shocked, "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm going to give Sir Charles back to Miss Jennifer for a time, then perhaps if you are very good, you could hold him again," he said calmly.

Ellie wanted to pitch a fit, she was thinking about it. It was as if Adam could read her mind, "Ellie, if you act up while we are on this stage, I'm going to start counting and I'm going to tell Pa," he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

Ellie straightened up immediately. "No, no Adam. I'll be good, I promise."

Jennifer frowned and raised her eyes at Adam, wasn't he being a little harsh. Ellie was just a little girl.

Ellie looked at Adam, "Can I have my book, please?"

Adam handed her the book. Ellie started to read the first story. By the time she finished the first story, with a little help from Adam, the rough ride from the stage with the combination of reading was making her sick. She pulled Adam's sleeve. He frowned at her, "Please don't interrupt me, I was having a conversation with Miss Jennifer."

"Addy," Ellie said as she started to tear up, "I feel sick."

Ellie using 'Addy' got his attention. He looked down worriedly at her and felt her forehead. She didn't have a fever. "What feels sick?" he asked concerned.

"My tummy hurts," Ellie said holding her tummy.

By this time the other passengers had stopped their conversations and looked at Ellie.

Adam was getting flustered, he wasn't sure what to do. He looked at Ellie, "Are you going to be sick?"

Ellie shook her head yes. Adam looked at Crosby, "Mr. Crosby, please see if you can get the driver to stop the coach."

Mr. Crosby nodded his head, he banged on the door of the coach to get the driver's attention and got him to pull over. The passengers hastily got out of Adam's way as he carried Ellie off the stage. He took her behind the stage just in the nick of time. Ellie starting heaving until she had nothing left. She was miserable. She was crying.

Mrs. Applegate came to where Adam and Ellie stood. Adam was running his hand through his hair. He wanted to get Ellie cleaned up. The driver had handed Mrs. Applegate his canteen. She walked up to Ellie and felt her head, the child had no fever. She suspected that the motion of the coach combined with reading was making Ellie motion sick. "Mr. Cartwright, I believe she will be fine. I would imagine the rocking motion of the coach and reading was making motion sick. She didn't seem to get sick until she started reading."

"Yes ma'am," Adam agreed.

She handed Adam the canteen. "Just clean her up son, I think she'll feel better shortly." 

"Yes ma'am. Ma'am, do you think you could get the driver to pull down her bag, it has her stuffed monkey in there. She probably could use it."

The driver agreed. Mrs. Applegate retrieved Mooch from the bag and handed it to Adam after he finished cleaning Ellie up. Fortunately, Ellie had not gotten sick on her clothes and it didn't get in her hair because Adam had held her hair out the way. Ellie felt much better and accepted Mooch from Mrs. Applegate. "Thank you, ma'am," Ellie said softly.

Mrs. Applegate smiled, "Of course child, you're going to be fine now."

Ellie nodded her head as Adam took her hand and led her back into the stage. He sat down on the seat with Ellie in his lap. She looked so vulnerable. He just kept running his hand down her back. "It's ok baby, big brother is here." He murmured. Ellie snuggled in his lap and fell asleep. Mrs. Applegate put her shawl over Ellie.

Adam whispered a thank you and leaned back.

After a time, Ellie was still asleep. Jennifer leaned forward and asked Adam, "Mr. Cartwright, do you always take care of her?"

"Adam," he said. "Well, I'm the oldest and I take care of all of them when my Pa isn't around, but normally this falls to my pa."

Jennifer looked surprised, "All of them? How many are there?"

"There's just 4 of us. My brother Hoss is 18, my brother Joe is 12 and Ellie is 7." Adam said smiling down at his sister, she was still conked out.

"Horse?" she asked, "You have a brother named Horse?"

Adam laughed, "No it' S, not horse. His real name is Eric. Hoss is mountain talk for big friendly man, which is what he is."

"Where is your father and other brothers?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, we're headed to Stockton to see some family friends and buy some horses. My Pa and my brothers' road to Stockton, so they could drive the horses back to Virginia City. Pa didn't think taking Ellie on the road would be a good idea at her age, so I am bringing her on the stage."

"Well, you seem to be a very good big brother."

"Thank you," said Adam blushing.

Ellie was starting to stir. She woke up slowly. Adam looked at his baby sister, "Heh, Princess, how are you feeling."

"Fine, Adam," she yawned. Adam shifted her off his lap onto the seat. He handed her Mooch. Ellie sat still for a while, but was getting bored. "Adam, can I have my book?"

Adam shook his head no. "Ellie, I think that's what made you sick, to try and read while the stage is moving."

"Oh, but I don't have anything to do," she whined.

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, I know this isn't very exciting, but I don't really have anything else to give you."

Ellie pouted, but didn't say anything else. She just sat there quietly. After another two hours of sitting still, Ellie was about to jump out of her skin, 'Adam I'm bored she whined.

Adam drew in a breath, "Ellie, stop complaining, there's nothing I can do about it. Besides we should stopping at Jump Creek Junction for supper and to spend the night. Please try and be patient."

"Ok," Ellie grumbled.

Adam sighed. He really didn't think watching Ellie for 4 days was going to be such a hardship. She normally was pretty good, especially when she was at home. She almost always found a way to entertain herself, when she didn't, she played with Joe or Hoss would take her fishing or riding. The family was lucky, Joe and Ellie got along well most of the time. He thought, just one more day and I can turn her over to Pa and spend time with Jarod. He couldn't wait to have some adult time and quit playing nursemaid.

The stage finally stopped at Jump Creek Junction for the night. Adam was relieved, he could Ellie run around a bit. He knew she didn't like to be confined in the stage coach. The passengers disembarked and got their luggage from the stage and made their way into the depot. The depot master introduced himself as "Smitty". He took one look at the passengers. "Ladies in this room and gents in this room," said Smitty pointing to two rooms.

Adam approached with Ellie, "Sir, is there another room, this my sister and I don't think I want to her to be in a room without me."

Smitty took one look at the two youngsters in front of him. He scratched his head, "Well I don't have another room."

Fortunately Jennifer stepped up. "Ellie, don't you want to stay with me and Sir Charles. We can have a sleepover. Wouldn't that be fun?" Jennifer winked at Adam.

Ellie's eyes shone. It wasn't often that she got to be around older girls. She looked at Adam for approval, "Can I Adam, can I?" she asked excitedly.

Adam hedged, he couldn't imagine that she would really want to be away from him when night set in. "I guess that would be fine, but if you need me, you just need to knock on the door, ok?"

Ellie nodded her head in agreement. Jennifer handed Sir Charles to Ellie. "Why don't you get Sir Charles settled in the room."

Ellie happily complied and skipped out of the room with the dog in tow.

Adam looked at Jennifer, "You know she has never slept away from home without me or my pa, I'm just not sure how she would do."

Jennifer laughed as she linked arms with Adam, "Oh she'll be fine you old worry wart."

Adam and Jennifer sat down at the table while they were waiting for Smitty to get supper ready. Jennifer was asking about the Ponderosa, Adam's college, and the family. Adam was regaling her with stories of the two youngest boys, when Ellie approached him. She tugged on his sleeve, "Adam?"

"Ellie, stop interrupting, go get your book," said Adam exasperated.

Ellie frowned, she whispered in his ear, "I have to use the outhouse."

"Oh," said Adam, "Excuse me Jennifer."

Ellie looked at Adam, he didn't have to go everywhere with her. "I can go by myself Adam, gosh, I am 7."

Adam looked at her, he wasn't sure that he should let her out of his sight. Jennifer interrupted his thoughts, "Oh Adam, let her go, she'll be fine."

Adam conceded, "Ok, go on."

Ellie left the depot to go outside and Jennifer and Adam continued the conversation they were having. Adam didn't realize how much time had gone by and that Ellie had not returned. Smitty called them all for supper. As they sat down, one person was still missing. Mrs. Applegate looked at Adam, "Son, where is your sister?"

Adam looked shocked. He didn't even realize until that very moment that Ellie wasn't in the room. "She's probably in the other room with Sir Charles, I'll go get her." He said excusing himself from the table.

Mrs. Applegate shook her head, "I just came out of that room, she's not in there."

The panic in Adam started to well up. "Where could she be?" he asked himself.

"When did you last see her?" asked Mr. Sanchez.

Adam had to think for a minute. Before he could speak, Jennifer spoke up. "Adam, Ellie needed to go to the outhouse a little while ago. I don't remember her coming back in."

Adam drew in a deep breath, he was surely panicking now. Worry was etched on his face. He didn't know exactly how long she had been gone. What if something had happened to her? What if she wandered off? What if Pa killed him for not watching Ellie?

Mr. Sanchez looked at Adam. "Son, relax. She's probably just outside playing. We will just go look for her. Everyone stood up to head out the door. As they headed for the door, Smitty stopped them. "I think you women folk ought to stay here in case she comes back. Don't want her to come to an empty depot."

The women nodded and the men hurriedly went out the front door to look for Ellie. Smitty looked at the men, "Fire your gun three times if you find her." The men nodded and spread out. Adam took the path to the outhouse.

Meanwhile, Ellie had gone to use the outhouse. When she finished, she stepped out the door to find baby raccoons walking across her path. There were two babies. Ellie's face lit up with the biggest smile. She wondered where their mama had gone. She walked toward the raccoons. They stopped dead in their tracks. Ellie just sat down in the grass. The curious raccoons finally made their way over to her. She picked them up and put them in her lap.

"Oh my gosh, you're so cute," she cooed at them. "Where's your mama?"

The raccoons just looked at her with their shiny eyes. "I'll help you find her," declared Ellie as she stood up with one in each hand. Ellie started walking toward the woods. The woods weren't very thick. She walked what seemed like a long time until she got to a clearing. "Maybe if we just stay here, your mama will come find you. My brother Adam always says that if I get lost, I should just stay put and my papa or one of my brothers will find me." So, Ellie sat in the clearing with the baby raccoons and told them all about the Ponderosa.

Adam had headed for the outhouse because that was the last place he had been. He arrived to find no one there. Panic started to well up again. "Get ahold of yourself," Adam said out loud. He thought, where could she have gone? Last time she wandered off, she had follow some hurt baby animal. Maybe she had found another hurt animal that she was trying to help. He walked around and noticed that the grass was flattened about 50 yards from the outhouse. Upon further examination, he saw a hair ribbon sitting in the middle of the flattened grass. He breathed a sigh of relief. Well, she was probably ok. The he started to get angry, he was going to give her one heck of a spanking for wandering off again. Adam continued to walk around calling her name.

Ellie wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Adam. The voice was getting louder. She picked up the babies and started walking toward Adam. As Ellie reached the edge of the clearing, she saw Adam entering the clearing. "Ellie!" he shouted in great relief.

"Hi, Adam! Look what I found. Aren't they cute? I brought them here to find there mama and…" Ellie didn't get to finish her sentence because Adam strode over to her angrily, pulled the raccoons out of her hands, turned her around and gave her 3 mighty swats.

Ellie started to cry. Those swats really hurt. Why was he so mad? She was just trying to help the baby raccoons.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" thundered Adam.

Ellie shrank back, Adam almost never shouted at her. He was scary. He was almost as scary as Papa when he was mad. Ellie just stood there shaking.

"I want an answer little girl," said Adam angrily.

Ellie took a deep breath. She knew she better answer and quick. "I was helping the babies find their mama."

Adam shook his head in disbelief. "Do you know that everyone on that stage is worried about you and is out looking for you? In fact, let me tell them I found you," he said as he raised his gun in the air and fired three shots.

Ellie just stood there. She didn't know quite what to do.

Adam looked at his sister, she was shaking. He felt a little built guilty. He didn't want her to be scared of him, but he didn't want her to think wandering off was every going to be a good idea. Adam looked at her, "What were going to do with the raccoons if you couldn't find the mama?"

"Oh, I was going to take them to Stockton."

"What?" asked Adam, "you can't take an animal on a stage coach."

Ellie looked at him strangley, "Miss Jennifer has Sir Charles."

"That's entirely different," Adam said.

"Why?" asked Ellie.

"It just is. Come on. We need to get back to the depot. Supper is cold because we had to come look for you. You are going to apologize to everyone when we get back," said Adam grabbing Ellie's hand.

As they walked back to the depot, Adam looked down at his little sister, he wanted to strangle her. "Ellie?"

Ellie looked up at him, her eyes still red from crying.

"You are now on a count of one, if you misbehave in any way shape or form you're going to get to two very quickly. I've lost my patience. Am I clear?"

This was one of the few times that Ellie used sir with Adam, "Yes sir," she said quietly.

They arrived back at the depot, where everyone was waiting. Adam nudged her, "Apology," he said.

"I'm sorry I worried everyone, I just wanted to help a baby raccoon I found. Well, there were two babies."

The group accepted her apology and headed in for supper. Ellie just pushed her food around on her plate. She couldn't remember Adam ever being this mad at her. Adam noticed she wasn't eating. "Ellie, eat," he stated simply.

Ellie did not wat to get in any more trouble at all. She picked at her food until Adam was satisfied. When supper was finished, the stage coach driver looked at the group, "We're leaving bright and early, I suggest everyone get on to bed."

Jennifer held her hand out for Ellie. Ellie put her hand in Jennifer's hand and walked to the room for the ladies. It was the first time in her life that she could remember that she didn't kiss Adam goodnight. She was miserable. Jennifer noticed the sad look on Ellie's face. "What's wrong?"

"I think Adam hates me," she said as the tears were running down her face.

Jennifer was shocked, "Why would you say such a thing?"

"He didn't kiss me goodnight. He always kisses me goodnight," Ellie whispered.

"Aw sweetie, he's just tired, he probably just forgot. It will be ok in the morning," said Jennifer giving Ellie a hug.

"But Miss Jennifer, he never forgets."

"Well, I'll tell you what. You snuggle with Sir Charles because he needs to snuggle and I'll tell you a story, ok?"

Ellie just nodded her head as she accepted Sir Charles from Jennifer. Ellie finally dozed off. Jennifer was furious with Adam. Ellie was barely more than a baby, how could he be so mean to his little sister. She was going to give him a piece of her mind in the morning.

The next morning came quicker than anybody would have wanted. Ellie came out of the room holding Jennifer's hand. She didn't know what to do. She didn't really want to be with Adam. She just stood there. Jennifer noted Ellie's reluctance. "Sweetie, can you take Sir Charles for a little walk for me? Don't go past the corral?"

"Yes ma'am," Ellie said exiting the depot.

"Adam Cartwright you're horrible," Jennifer lashed out at him.

Adam was completely shocked, "What?"

"That little girl thinks you hate her." Jennifer stormed.

"Why in the world would she think that? She knows I'm upset. This isn't the first time she's gotten in trouble," Adam tried to explain.

"She told me that you never forget to kiss her goodnight and that you must hate her because you didn't."

The light dawned on Adam. Pa always hugged them when he was done punishing them just to let them know that he still loved them. Adam sighed and headed outside to see Ellie. Ellie was standing next to the corral with Sir Charles on the leash. She was just leaning against the fence looking at the horses. Adam came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She was startled. She turned around to look up and found her big brother staring at her.

"Ellie I need to talk to you for a minute," Adam said gently.

She didn't say anything, she just looked at him. He knelt down so that he could be eye level with her.

"Ellie, honey, just because I forgot to kiss you goodnight, doesn't mean I hate you. I just forgot, it's as simple as that. It wasn't because I was mad."

"But you were so mad," Ellie whispered.

"I know, but you don't hate people when you are mad at them. You've gotten mad at me plenty of times, but I don't think you've ever hated me."

Ellie shook her head no.

"Ellie, I love you so very much. That's why I was mad that you wandered off. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Oh," said Ellie, toeing the dirt with her shoe.

"Ok? Do you understand now?" Adam questioned her.

Ellie shook her head yes. Adam enveloped her in a big hug. "I love you princess."

"I love you too." She responded melting into his chest.

Adam sighed contentedly, grabbed her hand and walked back to the depot.

**Up Next: Getting to Stockton**


	8. Chapter 8

STOCKTON

**Chapter 8 – Getting to Stockton**

After the passengers ate breakfast, they loaded back up on the stage for their final leg to Stockton. They only had 4 or 5 hours to go. They should arrive around noon. Adam was worn out, he loved his baby sister, but he couldn't wait to hand her off to Pa. This made him realize he was grateful he didn't have children yet. Maybe he would be ready in a few years.

The day on the stage was uneventful. Ellie was on her very best behavior. She didn't whine or complain one time. Of course it helped that Miss Jennifer let her play with Sir Charles the entire trip. Finally, to everyone's great pleasure, the stage arrived in Stockton.

Pa, Victoria and Kathleen had come to meet the stage. Ellie was scrambling over everyone to get to her Papa. The door to the stage opened and Ellie leaped into his arms. "Papa," she cried excitedly.

Pa was a little miffed that she didn't wait to get off the stage and crawled over everyone to do it. He started to apologize to the passengers, but they all assured him that they understood. Pa hugged his baby tight and gave her kisses on the head and the face. Ellie was so happy to have her Papa back.

"Papa, I missed you so much!" she exclaimed.

Pa chuckled as he nuzzled her cheek, "I missed you too."

Ellie saw Kathleen standing to the side. She wiggled down, "Kathleen!" she yelled running over to her friend.

"Ellie," Kathleen yelled. The girls ran to each other and hugged each other. Victoria and Pa looked on with amusement. Pa cleared his throat. "Ellie?"

She turned around to see Aunt Victoria, "Aunt Victoria," she squealed running over to her to give her a hug.

Victoria reached down to hug her. "Hi, darling." Victoria then turned her attention to Adam and gave him a hug.

Pa turned to Adam, "How'd it go son?"

Adam raised his eye brows.

Pa frowned, that wasn't a good sign.

Adam mouthed, "Later."

Ellie was oblivious to the exchange, she was already rattling on to Kathleen about Sir Charles. However, Victoria noted and thought that Adam and Ben needed a few minutes to catch up. Victoria walked over to the girls and said, "Who wants to go the mercantile with me before we have lunch?"

The girls just squealed. Victoria laughed and took each girl by the hand and turned to Ben, "Ben why don't you and Adam put the luggage in the surrey and meet us at the Stockton Café."

Pa nodded his head, "That's a fine idea Victoria." Pa then turned to Ellie, "Mind your Aunt Victoria," he said.

"Yes sir," Ellie said as she turned to go with Victoria.

Pa turned to Adam as he picked up a piece of the luggage. "Son?"

Adam ran his hand through his hair, "Pa, I honestly don't know how you do it?"

Pa stared at Adam strangely, "Do what son?"

"Raise the four of us."

Pa smiled and patted Adam on the shoulder, "That bad? Was she really that hard to handle?"

Adam took a deep breath before he launched the tale. As he finished the tale, he looked at Pa, "I told her she was on a count of one, Pa. I know she doesn't mean to be naughty, she just doesn't think, she just wanders off because she wants to rescue some animal."

Pa raised his eyebrows at hearing that Ellie has a count of one. "Well your little brother reached the count of three before we even got here."

Adam whistled, that was pretty bad, even for Joe. "Wow, what happened?"

Pa quickly related the story of the ride to Stockton. Adam just shook his head, "That boy is too much."

"Well that little boy has been on his best behavior and I expect him to be for the rest of the trip." Pa said nodding his head in agreement.

In the meantime Victoria took the girls to the mercantile. They seemed to have all kinds of things that Ellie had never seen before. They had different types of toys and dolls. Ellie was in awe. Victoria looked at the girls, "Remember girls, don't touch anything without permission."

Both girls answered, "Yes ma'am."

Ellie and Kathleen held hands as they walked around the store. Kathleen saw a barrette in sterling silver. It was beautiful. "Audra would really love that for her birthday." Kathleen told Ellie. Ellie looked at the barrette. "Wow, that's really pretty." "Let's go show mana," Kathleen said dragging her friend along. She picked up the barrette.

"Mama, mama, look what I found," Kathleen called.

Victoria came over to her daughter, " I thought I told you not to touch," she admonished.

"I know mama, I'm sorry, I just wanted to show you this. I want to get it for Audra for her birthday." Kathleen said handing the barrette to her mother.

"Kathleen, dear, Audra's birthday is next month."

"I know mama, but isn't it about the prettiest barrette you've ever seen. I want to get it now. What if they don't have it later?"

Victoria smiled at her daughter, "Yes, it's very beautiful. Perhaps we can get it the next time we come to town."

"But mama," Kathleen started to whine.

"Kathleen," Victoria said sternly.

Kathleen knew that tone of voice, she quickly stopped and said, "Yes ma'am."

Victoria looked relieved. "Come along girls, we need to meet Ben and Adam at the café."

"Ok," said Kathleen wistfully as she put the barrette back in the place that she had found it.

The girls were walking behind Victoria on the way to the café. Ellie leaned over to her friend, "Don't worry, you can get the barrette next time."

Kathleen sighed, "Gosh I hope so."

The little trio arrived at the café to find Ben and Adam already sitting at a table. They enjoyed their lunch and then headed for the surrey. "Adam why don't you drive and I'll sit in the back with the girls."

"Yes ma'am," Adam said as he climbed into the front seat.

Pa turned toward Ellie, "Ellie don't you want to sit with Papa?"

"Can I sit with Kathleen?"

Pa smiled, "Sure, that'll be fine." He was a little sad, she usually wanted to be glued to his side when they had bee apart for a few days. But on the other hand, she probably wouldn't be clingy because she had Kathleen.

They arrived at the ranch to find Joe and Hoss waiting for them. Hoss lifted Ellie out of the surrey and swung her around, "How's my princess?"

"Good Hoss, I missed you." Ellie said into his chest.

Hoss patted her on the back, "I missed you too." He put her on the ground to greet Joe. "Heh Sissy," Joe said as Ellie ploughed into him giving him a hug.

"Heh Joe."

"How was riding the stage with Adam?"

Ellie looked at Joe for a minute and then pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear, "Adam started counting." she whispered.

Joe looked surprised. "How many did he get to?"

"One," whispered Ellie.

Joe shook his head in sympathy, "Well don't let him or Pa get to three."

Ellie looked at her brother, "How was your ride with Papa and Hoss?"

Joe grimaced, "Promise not to tell?"

Ellie nodded furiously.

"I got to three before we even got here."

Ellie was shocked, "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just don't want anyone else to know." He whispered.

Ellie crossed her chest, "Cross my heart Joe, I won't tell?"

Pa was watching his two babies, thick as thieves. Ellie had never not had Joe, usually if he was off the ranch overnight, he was at the Cummings ranch and so was she. Ellie had really missed him, maybe even more than her Papa. He smiled, he was very proud of how much those two loved each other. Oh, they may fight like cats and dogs, but in the end they were best friends.

Kathleen grabbed Ellie's hand, "Come on, let's go play."

Ellie looked at her Papa for approval. Pa nodded his head and shooed her off. Ellie happily went with Kathleen.

Adam had been talking to Hoss the entire time Ellie was talking to Joe. Adam and Hoss were as close as Joe and Ellie. Adam had greeted Hoss, "Heh, brother."

Hoss grinned as wide as he could, "Heh big brother."

"I heard the trip in was, um, let's say a little interesting. Pa filled me in." Adam said smiling.

Hoss chuckled, "Ya should of seen Joe in that tree, it was a sight," he whispered.

"How about you, how was Ellie?" Hoss asked slapping Adam on the back.

"I'll tell you what, you take her back home and I'll ride with Pa." Adam offered.

"No thanks, brother." Hoss said laughing. "Was it really that bad?"

"No, I guess not, you know she just wanders off, I about had a heart attack at least twice." Adam shared.

Hoss nodded knowingly.

"I started counting," Adam continued.

Hoss' eyebrows went up, "You did? How far did she git?"

"One," supplied Adam.

Hoss just shook his head. "Pa ain't gonna be happy. Ya already tell him?"

Adam nodded his head.

Once Ellie went off with Kathleen, Joe turned to Adam. He really missed Adam. Any time he got in trouble with Pa, he would go to Adam for comfort. He hadn't had Adam this time. Adam had been waiting to greet him until the whirlwind of his little sister had finished her greeting. Joe didn't want to appear like a baby in front of his friend Gene, but he really needed a hug from Adam. "Heh Adam." Joe said putting his hand out to shake.

Adam could tell something was off with Joe. Joe usually ran to Adam and Adam would pick him up, even though he was 12. Adam supposed that Joe didn't want to be embarrassed. Adam grinned and grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hug, picked him and swung him around. "Heh, little brother."

Joe turned red even though he was laughing, "Awwww, Adam." Adam put him down and patted his shoulder.

Everyone laughed much to Joe's dismay. Gene came up and whispered, "Nick and Jarod do that to me all the time. Embarrassing ain't it?" he asked punching Joe in the shoulder. Joe just nodded his head. The two families turned toward the house. Adam called for Joe, "Heh Joe, will you help me for a minute?" Adam figured that Joe needed a few minutes with him after what Pa had told him about Joe reaching three before they even arrived in Stockton.

"Sure Adam," said Joe walking toward his brother. He turned to Gene, "I'll be there in a minute." Joe looked up at his big brother. "What did you need?"

Adam looked down at his little brother. He really wanted to pick him up and give him a real hug, but he didn't think Joe would go for it right then. "I just wanted to see if you needed to talk."

Joe was surprised, he couldn't think of anything that Adam would need to talk to him about. "About what?"

"Pa told me what happened on the way here." Adam said putting his hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Oh, that," said Joe looking at the ground.

"Yeah, that." Adam smiled at him.

Joe looked like he wanted to cry. That was his usual response, he'd come cry to Adam when he got in trouble. Joe just kicked the dirt. Adam sensed Joe didn't want to cry out in sight of everyone, even though everyone had gone in the house. "Adam, he was really mad."

Adam hugged him, "I know buddy, but you know better than to handle a gun, plus you disobeyed him. You know how he feels about that."

"I know," Joe sniffled into Adam's chest.

Adam just hugged him again and gave him a piece of luggage to carry in. "That's Ellie's, take it up to Kathleen's room, ok?"

"Sure Adam," Joe said wiping the tears away.

The families laughed and shared and enjoyed dinner later on in the evening. As the evening wound down, it was time for the little girls to go to bed. Pa wanted to talk to Ellie about her count of one, but she was sharing a room with Kathleen. As Kathleen was heading up to bed, Pa caught Ellie by the waist and whispered, "I need to talk to you for a minute."

Ellie froze, she figured Adam must have told Papa that he had started counting. Pa looked at Jarod, "Can I borrow your office for a moment?"

Jarod nodded, "Sure Uncle Ben."

Pa led Ellie by the hand to the office. Pa sat down on the couch in Jarod's office. He stood Ellie between his knees. "Adam told me you're on a count of one."

Ellie nodded her head, "Yes sir."

"Why?" asked Pa.

Ellie shrugged her shoulders.

Pa looked surprised, "You don't know?"

"Well Adam was awful mad because he had to look for me and the other people on the stage had to look for me and missed supper. He didn't even kiss me goodnight. But, Papa I was just helping these baby raccoons." Ellie said pleading her case. She really didn't think that what she do was that bad and that she shouldn't be at the count of one.

Pa sighed, "You're at a count of one because you wandered off, you worried him, you could have gotten hurt and you inconvenienced everyone because they had to stop doing what they were doing to go look for you."

"But Papa, he was so mad he didn't even kiss me goodnight. He's never done that before ever in my whole life."

Pa chuckled, as if her whole life was a long time. "You sure he was mad, you don't think he just forgot?"

"Well he said he forgot, but I don't believe him," she stated adamantly.

"I see," Pa said. "Come on." Pa said grabbing her hand and leading her back into the parlor. "Ellie just wanted to say goodnight."

To her great relief, Adam held his arms out to her. She ran to his arms and he gave her a big kiss goodnight. "Goodnight Princess," he said giving her a big bear hug. Ellie gave Hoss a goodnight hug and kiss and said goodnight to everyone else. As Ellie turned to go upstairs, Victoria said, "I'll be up in a few minutes to tuck you girls in."

Before long it was time for the little boys to go to bed. Joe said his goodnights. He didn't hug and kiss Pa goodnight, that would be too babyish. Funny, Gene didn't hug and kiss his mother goodnight for the same reason. Victoria and Ben shared an amused look. Once the boys left the parlor, Pa turned to Hoss and Adam, "Would one of you boys go make sure they're in bed and tuck them in."

Adam volunteered. "I'll go up Pa."

The next morning, the entire group was at the table. Breakfast was noisy and rambunctious. Pa and Victoria couldn't get a word in edgewise. Finally the group got quiet enough to hear what everyone planned for the day. Adam and Jarod were going into Stockton. Hoss and Heath were going to the North Section to finish a quick fence job and then they were going fishing. Nick had other chores he needed to take care of. Gene and Joe got permission to go the water hole to go swimming. That left the girls.

"What are you girls going to do today?" asked Victoria.

Audra looked at her mother surprised, "Mother, you said I could go to Martha's today."

"Audra, I really need you to watch the girls." Victoria implored her daughter.

Audra slumped in her chair, "But Mother…"

"We don't need watching any way Mama," Kathleen retorted.

"Watch yourself little girl," warned Jarod.

Victoria looked at Ellie, ignoring her daughter, "What did you want to do today?"

"I would like to go with Joe and go swimming." Ellie said looking to see if Papa would let her go.

Gene and Joe both rolled their eyes. They didn't want to get stuck babysitting their sisters.

"Joseph?" asked Pa.

Joe immediately looked at his Pa, "Sir?"

"It would be very helpful if you took the girls with you."

Joe sighed, he knew he really had no choice. Especially since he had been in so much trouble, he didn't want to get in anymore.

Gene started to protest. "Gene!" Jarod said sternly.

Gene sighed, "Yes Jarod?"

"You will be taking the girls with you."

Gene knew that tone of voice, it never boded well for his backside. "Yes Jarod," he said.

Pa excused his brood from the table and Victoria excused hers. The boys started up the stairs to get their old clothes to swim in. Joe turned to Gene, "Gene, it really ain't that bad, we won't have to watch Ellie much, she's afraid of the water. She won't hardly go in past her ankles unless Hoss, Adam or Pa is there."

"Yeah, but you don't know Kathleen," Gene said ruefully. "She will go in too far, we have to keep an eye on her."

Joe sighed, "Well maybe she'll just stay with Ellie."

The girls went to grab some clothes for swimming. Ellie hadn't really brought anything, so Kathleen lent her some old clothes. They weren't really different in size. As Kathleen pulled the old clothes out of her dresser, she saw the $10 she'd been saving for Audra's birthday. She was cooking up a plan in her mind.

**Next Up: The Two Fer One Plan Makes Three**


	9. Chapter 9

STOCKTON

**Chapter 0 – The Two Fer One Plan Makes Three**

Kathleen was cooking up a plan in her mind to be able to get into Stockton to buy that barrette for Audra without anyone being the wiser. She figured that she and Ellie could go swimming with the boys and then leave early. The boys would stay up there all day. The watering hole was half way to Stockton. She and Ellie could ride her pony Ruby into town, buy the barrette and be back home before anybody knew it.

Cip saddled ponies for the children. He saddled, Gene's pony Frosty, a pony for Joe named Duke, and Kathleen's pony, Ruby. He looked at that little Ellie and wasn't sure she should be riding by herself. He looked at Kathleen, "The little girl, she ride with you?" he asked.

Kathleen looked at Ellie, Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "Ok, Ellie will ride with me."

The four took off for the water hole. It was about a half hour ride from the house. When they arrived at the water hole, the boys dismounted and went to help their sisters down. Kathleen waived Gene away, "Gosh Gene, we can get down by ourselves," she said irritably.

Kathleen looked at Ellie, "Can you get down by yourself?"

Ellie snorted, "Of course I can." She swung her leg over holding on to the saddle. She slid down the saddle on her belly until her feet were dangling about a foot off the ground. Joe quickly stepped in and helped her the rest of the way down.

"Aw Joe, I could've done it myself."

Joe just grinned, "Sure ya could, sure ya could."

"Joe Cartwright," Ellie stomped her foot.

"What?" asked Joe innocently.

By this time Kathleen had swung off the saddle and jumped to the ground. She grabbed Ellie's hand, "Come on, let's go change." The girls ducked behind a bush.

The boys ducked behind another bush and quickly changed into pants for swimming and came out bare chested. Kathleen started running for the rope swing. "Kathleen, wait up," called Gene. Kathleen slowed down, "What?"

Gene leaned into her, "Kathleen, Ellie is afraid of the water. Joe said she probably won't go in very far. So, do you think you could stay with her and kind of watch over her?"

"Oh," said Kathleen disappointed. She had really wanted to swim, but she didn't want to leave her friend by herself, especially if she was afraid. "Heh Gene, can you and Joe watch her, just for a few minutes. I just want to use to rope swing one time and then I'll stay with Ellie."

Gene nodded his head in agreement. That went a whole lot better than he thought. Then again, Kathleen was really a sweet girl, she was just very head strong. She wouldn't intentionally leave Ellie out of the fun or hurt her feelings.

Kathleen ran for the rope. She jumped on the rope, screamed and swung out over the water hole and let go. She dropped into the water laughing. She swam over to where Joe, Ellie and Gene were standing. "That was fun, but I'm done. You boys go ahead, I think me and Ellie are going to play here. Isn't that right Ellie?" Kathleen asked her friend.

Kathleen just nodded her head. She looked terrified. Once the boys had left, Kathleen looked at Ellie. "Ellie, you look kind of scared, you ok?"

Ellie found her voice, "Um, yeah, but what you did was so scary."

Kathleen laughed, "It's really fun. You should try. You know if you try Gene'll catch you."

Ellie shook her head. "I don't think so."

"That's ok," Kathleen said. "Let's go look for frogs."

Ellie lit up. "Ok!"

After a time, Kathleen was getting bored. She figured, now was as good as time as any to carry out her plans. She yelled for Gene. He swam over to her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"We're bored, we want to go home." Kathleen told him.

Gene sighed, "We aren't ready to go."

"Gene, can't we just ride home. I know the way." Kathleen said with her arms crossed over her chest.

Gene thought about it a minute and called Joe over. "Heh Joe, the girls want to go ahead and go home, but I'm not ready, what about you?"

"No. I ain't ready either." Joe said.

"You know, we could just let the girls ride home. It's a straight ride from here and Kathleen knows the way," Gene said casually.

Joe thought about it, Ellie wasn't really allowed to go anywhere by herself. Then again, she wasn't by herself. He couldn't see the harm. "Yeah, I guess that would be ok."

Gene turned to Kathleen, "Ok, but you gotta go straight home."

Kathleen just rolled her eyes. The boys got out of the water and helped the girls up on Ruby. Kathleen and Ellie took off. Kathleen slowed Ruby to a walk, "Heh, Ellie I have something to ask you."

"What?" asked Ellie.

"Well, I really want to get that barrette for Audra. I brought my money I've been saving. Let's run into town and get the barrette. Then we can head for home, no one will even know that we went to town."

Ellie chewed on her lip. "I don't know, are you allowed to go into town by yourself?"

Kathleen hedged, she didn't want to tell an outright fib. "Well no, but I'm not by myself, you're with me."

Ellie still wondered, she and Joe weren't allowed to go into town even if they were together, someone always had to be with them. "I'm not sure."

"You know, Adam and Jarod are in town, so if we need something there's already an adult there." Kathleen pleaded.

Ellie brightened a bit, "Oh, well Papa doesn't let me and Joe go into town by ourselves, he's always saying we to have Hoss or Adam or Papa with us. So if Adam and Jarod are there, that's kind of like being with us, right?"

"Exactly," said Kathleen.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Ellie.

Kathleen hugged her friend.

Ellie touched her friend's arm, "Wait Kathleen, Gene told us to go home."

Kathleen snorted, "We are going home, we're just taking the long way."

Ellie still wasn't completely sure, but with Kathleen's assurance they would just get the barrette and go back to the ranch, she couldn't really see the problem.

The girls took a leisurely pace on Ruby and headed to Stockton. The road was well marked and well worn, so they didn't have any trouble getting in town. They arrived in town rather late in the afternoon. It was already 2:00, when they arrived. Kathleen took Ruby to the stables. She saw Danny, the stable boy. "Hi Danny," she greeted.

"Well, hi there Kathleen."

"Can we leave Ruby?" she asked.

"Sure honey," said Danny as he pulled Kathleen off her pony. He turned to Ellie to pull her off. She shrank back just a bit. Kathleen noticed how skittish Ellie was being. "It's ok Ellie, this is Danny. I've known him forever."

Ellie nodded as Danny reached up to Ellie and pulled her off of Ruby and set her on the ground.

Danny looked around. "Kathleen?"

Kathleen turned toward Danny, "Yes?"

"Ain't someone with you?" asked Danny scratching his head. It seemed odd, these two little girls would be in town all alone.

Kathleen thought quickly, "Oh, Jarod and Ellie's brother Adam are at Jarod's office."

He smiled relieved. He didn't think Miss Victoria or Jarod would have let Kathleen come by herself. "Ok, well I'll just keep Ruby here until you're ready to go home."

Kathleen thanked him and grabbed Ellie's hand. "Come on Ellie."

The girls were walking down the boardwalk. "Heh Kathleen, I'm kind of hungry."

Kathleen looked at Ellie, she had completely forgotten about lunch. "I'm hungry too. Let's go find something to eat."

Ellie pulled on her friend's hand, "Kathleen, I don't have any money."

Kathleen grinned, "Well, I have enough for both of us, don't worry."

"You do? How much do you have?" asked Ellie curiously.

"I have ten whole dollars," said Kathleen proudly.

Ellie was in awe. "Wow, where'd you get that much money?"

"I saved my allowance for months and I did extra chores. I've been trying to save for Audra's birthday. I wanted to get her something really special. She and Gene are the only ones who don't treat me like a baby."

"Yeah, I know. Joe is the only one in my family," Ellie said sympathizing with Kathleen.

Kathleen looked around. She was wondering where they could go for lunch. She didn't really want to run in to Jarod and Adam. The Stockton Café was a place that Jarod went often. She had to think. Then she got an idea. "Heh Ellie, do you like ice cream?"

Ellie eyes lit up like Christmas. Kathleen giggled, that was her answer. "Yeah, I love it. Do you think they have strawberry ice cream?" Ellie asked excitedly.

Kathleen giggled, "Yes they do. But, they have sandwiches. We can have both. I bet we can even get a sarsaparilla."

"Do you have enough money?" Ellie asked. All that sounded really expensive.

"Oh sure, they have the prices on the menu, I think. We just need to make sure I still have enough money for the barrette."

"How much is that?" asked Ellie.

"Five dollars," responded Kathleen.

Ellie nodded hear head in understanding. She still had trouble adding. Hopefully, Kathleen was better at math than she was. The girls arrived at the ice cream shop. Kathleen had chosen the ice cream shop for two reasons, one she didn't think Jarod and Adam would be there and two, she really loved ice cream. The girls both ordered ham sandwiches, a sarsaparilla, and strawberry ice cream. Ellie was in heaven. Fortunately, the whole bill added up to $2. They didn't even have to figure it out themselves, the waitress had told them after they ordered. The waitress had thought that is was odd, two little girls were in town alone. She just figured that these girls had some irresponsible parents or older siblings that let them come to the shop by themselves and the parents or older siblings were somewhere in town.

The girls finished up and headed out. "Kathleen, do you think we can go to the toy shop? They had some really neat toys I've never seen before," asked Ellie.

"Sure," said Kathleen. Kathleen got a little turned around, but they finally got to the toy shop. Ellie had no idea that they had been lost for over an hour, just wandering the streets of Stockton. After they had their fill of the toy shop, Kathleen started thinking about the barrette.

"Ellie, we should go get the barrette."

"Ok," said Ellie following her friend.

The girls got turned around again, but eventually made it to the mercantile. Kathleen was looking at all the barrettes, when Mr. Dimitri came over to her. "Kathleen, where's your mama?"

"Oh, hi Mr. Dimitri. She's at home." Kathleen responded as she fingered the barrette.

His eyes narrowed, "Who's with you?"

Kathleen stepped aside so Ellie was facing him, "This is my friend Ellie, she came all the way from Nevada to see me."

"Hi Ellie. No, I meant what adult is in town with you, I know your mama and your brothers, they wouldn't let you be here by yourself."

Kathleen panicked for a minute, she didn't want to fib. "Jarod and Ellie's brother are at Jarod's office."

Mr. Dimitri was still not happy with the explanation. He couldn't imagine that Jarod Barkley would let this baby come into the store by herself. His office was in the business district on the other side of town. "He let you come over here by yourself?"

Kathleen started to get nervous. "Um, no sir, not exactly. I came in to buy this for Audra for her birthday," she said holding up the barrette.

Mr. Dimitri processed what Kathleen had said. He put his hand on her shoulder, "Does Jarod know you're here?"

"Um. No sir, not exactly," Kathleen hedged.

Mr. Dimitri knew that Jarod would be astounded that his sister was here. He put one hand on each girl's shoulder. "It's going to get dark soon, you need to leave now and go to your brother's office. Maybe I should take you."

"No, no sir. We can go there by ourselves." Kathleen said quickly.

Mr. Dimitri shooed them out of the store before Kathleen could buy that barrette.

The girls were headed for the stables. Ellie looked at Kathleen, "You forgot to buy the barrette."

"I know, I wanted to get out of there before Mr. Dimitri took us to Jarod's office. We can get Ruby and if we ride fast, we shouldn't be home too much after dark."

Ellie looked scared, "It's going to be dark that soon?"

Kathleen nodded her head.

Kathleen and Ellie approached the stable. Kathleen grabbed Ellie. "What?" asked Ellie.

Kathleen pointed to the stables, Adam and Jarod were walking toward the stables. "Let's wait over here," she said dragging Ellie into an alley way. "When they leave we can get Ruby. Hopefully, we'll beat them home."

Ellie had a very bad feeling. It seemed like such a good idea when they came to town. She never thought they would have stayed so long in town. Besides that, she had never been out in the dark without Papa or Adam. She was scared!

Adam and Jarod entered the stables, "Hi Danny," greeted Jarod.

"Oh, hi Mr. Jarod." Danny returned the greeting.

Danny went to retrieve and saddle the horses. Jarod was looking around the stable and noticed Ruby, or what he thought was Ruby. Jarod walked over to the stall and looked over the horse. He petted her nose and stroked her as he walked down the side of the stall to look at the brand. It was definitely Ruby. Adam looked on, he wondered what in the world Jarod was doing. "Jarod, what are you doing?" asked Adam curiously.

Jarod huffed, "It's Ruby."

Adam was still a bit confused, "Who's Ruby?"

"Kathleen's pony," Jarod responded.

Adam was still a bit confused, "What's she doing here?"

Jarod looked at his friend, "I have no idea."

Danny had finished saddling the horses and had brought them up to the front.

"Danny, what is Ruby doing here?" he asked indicating the pony.

"Oh, you know Mr. Jarod, I was going to ask you about that. Kathleen came in with another lil gal. She said you and the lil gal's brother had sent them over here and that you was in town," said Danny scratching his head.

"I did not send them over here, in fact I didn't even know she was here." Jarod said as the steam started to come out of his ears.

"You mean, she and that lil gal are here all by themselves? Mr. Jarod, I know Miss Victoria wouldn't have let her come all the way here by herself." Danny said shaking his head.

"No, Mother wouldn't have allowed it. I suspect no one knows Kathleen and Ellie are here." Jarod agreed.

"Well, the horse is still here, so I suspect Ellie and Kathleen are still in town somewhere," reasoned Adam.

Jarod nodded his head in agreement, "I suspect you're right Adam, let's go find them." Jarod then turned to Danny, "Danny can you ride out to the ranch and let them know what's going on? I would imagine Mother and Uncle Ben are worried sick."

Danny nodded his head, "I'm sorry Mr. Jarod, I should've known something wasn't right." Jarod smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. "Danny, you know Kathleen, she's just headstrong. When she gets a mind to do something, she just does it without thinking."

While Ellie and Kathleen were roaming the streets of Stockton earlier in the day, Joe and Gene had finally had enough swimming. Gene looked at Joe, "You ready to head home? I'm beat."

"Yeah, let's go," Joe agreed.

The boys arrived back at the ranch and jumped off their horses. The boys led the horses to the barn, where they found Nick. "Heh, Nick," both boys greeted.

"Heh boys, did you have a good time?" asked Nick.

The boys nodded. "Well go on up to the house and get cleaned up, after you clean up your horses."

The boys nodded. Gene led Frosty into his stall. He noticed Ruby wasn't in her stall. He thought that was strange, the girls had come back hours ago. Fear started to well up in him. "Uh Nick?"

"Hmm?" Nick answered.

"Where's Ruby?" asked Gene.

Nick gave his little brother a long hard look, "I don't know. Come to think of it, didn't the girls go with you to the swimming hole?"

"Yeah, but they came home a long time ago." Gene answered.

"You let your little sisters ride back from the swimming hole all alone?" Nick asked, his voice rising with every word.

Joe gulped, that was the voice Adam used when he was really mad and thought that Joe had done the dumbest thing in the world.

Gene gulped, "But Nick, the girls wanted to come back and Joe and I weren't done, and since it's not that far and there were two of them, we figured it would be ok."

Nick shook his head, "Of all the fool things, Gene, you should know better."

"But Nick, I told them to come straight home," Gene tried to reason with his brother.

Nick took a look at the boys. He pointed toward the house. "You two get yourselves up to the house and tell Mother and Uncle Ben what happened."

"Yes Nick," said the boys as they scrambled to get away from Nick and up to the house. Gene wasn't sure whether Nick was going to punish him for being so careless, or if he was going to leave it to Jarod. Gene didn't want to take any chances. He skated by Nick with his behind toward the wall. Joe took his friend's lead.

The boys got up to the house and on shaking feet, they entered the front door. Ben and Victoria were in the parlor. Victoria saw the boys, "Hi boys, how was your day?"

Gene looked at his mother, "Um, fine Mama…."

Ben looked at Joe, he had that guilty look on his face. He couldn't imagine what kind of trouble Joe could have gotten into. He put that thought aside for a moment, he was looking for the girls. "Where are the girls?" he asked.

Joe starting shaking a bit, he knew he was going to get in trouble. "Well Pa, we thought that the girls were already here."

Ben eyes grew wide, "Joseph, is there something you need to tell me?"

"Yes sir," Joe said looking at his feet.

"Joseph, look at me." Pa said sternly.

Joe looked up with misery in his eyes.

"Out with it," Pa said with his hands on his hips.

"Pa, the girls wanted to go home early. So, we let them ride back. They should have been here a long time ago." Joe said quickly.

Pa looked at Joe and Gene, "You mean you let two little girls ride back by themselves? What were you thinking?"

Gene looked at Ben, "But Uncle Ben, Kathleen rides back from the swimming hole by herself all the time. Since the two were together, I didn't see the harm."

Ben was about to release a tirade on the boys, when he heard the door bell ringing. Victoria looked at Ben. "Ben, hold that thought," she said as she went to answer the door.

Silas beat her to the door. He opened the door to find Danny, the boy from the stables in town. Danny walked in, "May I see Miss Victoria?" Silas ushered him in.

"Danny, is something wrong?" she asked.

"Um, no ma'am, I don't rightly think so."

Victoria just looked at him quizzically.

"Miss Victoria, Mr. Jarod sent me to tell you that Kathleen and her little friend, um"

"Ellie," supplied Ben.

"Yes sir, Ellie, they are in town and Mr. Jarod and his friend… I don't recollect his name, were going to find them and bring them home."

Victoria and Ben both breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Danny," Victoria smiled warmly at him.

"Um, yes ma'am, I better get back to town. Good night ma'am, sir." Danny said as he took his leave.

Ben looked at Victoria, "I guess there is nothing left to do, but wait for Jarod and Adam to bring them home.

Victoria nodded her head in agreement.

Ben looked at Victoria, "What about Joe and Gene?"

Victoria placed a hand on Ben's arm. "Ben I don't think the boys thought they were doing anything wrong. I really think the girls knew they were doing something they shouldn't."

Ben huffed, "I suppose you're right."

Joe could not believe his good fortune. If this had happened at home he would be in more trouble than he cared to think about. He wished Aunt Victoria was around all the time. Maybe he wouldn't get in so much trouble.

Meanwhile, the girls were still in the alley. Kathleen hoped that Jarod and Adam would leave and that she and Ellie could get on Ruby and get home. It was starting to get dark. Finally, she saw Danny leave the stable. Then she saw Adam and Jarod leave on their horses. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. She looked at Ellie, "Come on, Adam, Jarod and Danny just left."

Kathleen and Ellie entered the stable and ran to Ruby. Ellie looked at her friend. "How are we going to get up on Ruby?" she asked.

Kathleen looked around the stables for something to stand on. She saw the ladder into the hayloft. "We could bring Ruby over to the ladder, then climb up the ladder and get on from the ladder."

"Oh, that's a good idea," agreed Ellie. As the girls were dragging Ruby over to the ladder, they heard a sound. Kathleen turned around to a very angry Danny. "Um, hi Danny?" she squeaked.

"Don't you 'hi Danny' me missy. I just had to ride all the way to your ranch to tell your mama that Jarod and Ellie's brother are here looking for you." Danny said angrily.

Ellie's mouth hung open. Kathleen backed up a step. "You mean Jarod knows that we're in town? But he just left." Kathleen said confused.

"Yeah, they left to go look for you."

"Oh no," said Kathleen fearfully.

Danny looked at the girls, his eyes boring into theirs, "You girls stay right here, I'm going to go find your brothers. If you move one muscle, I swear I'll tan you if they don't."

Kathleen thought to herself, Danny sure won't, but Jarod surely will. As Danny left the stables, Kathleen turned to Ellie. "We should just ride for home."

Ellie started to cry. "Kathleen, it's getting dark, I'm scared, I just want to go back to your house."

Kathleen patted her friends arm. "Come on, let's just go."

Ellie looked at Kathleen. "But Mr. Danny said to stay here."

Kathleen looked at Ellie, "Ellie, I don't know about Adam, but the minute Jarod finds us, he's going to give both of us a spanking. Then, we're going to have to ride home on sore bottoms. I'd rather just get home, at least we won't be sore on the ride home."

That made perfect sense to Ellie, she did not want to ride on a sore bottom. Ellie agreed. They both mounted Ruby from the ladder and took off for the ranch.

Danny had found Jarod and Adam rather quickly. Both Jarod and Adam were smoldering. Adam was figuring that this escapade counted for two and three, and there was going to be a little girl with a very sore bottom shortly. Jarod didn't count, but that little sister of his was in for the tanning of her life.

The three men arrived at the stables to find Ruby gone. "Well, where are they?" demanded Adam. Danny looked around wildly, "I swear it Mr. Jarod, I just left them. I told them not to move a muscle, I'd tan them if you didn't."

Jarod gave Danny a pat on the back, "Not to worry Danny, you won't need to. I guarantee that those two won't be sitting comfortably for the next few days." Adam nodded his head in agreement. Adam and Jarod took off for the ranch. It wouldn't be too hard to catch up with them, there was only one trail between the ranch and Stockton.

Ellie and Kathleen were making fairly good time, that is until they heard riders coming up fast behind them. All of the sudden, Ellie heard "Eleanor Grace Cartwright, you better stop that horse."

Then Kathleen heard that dreaded deep voice, "Kathleen Ann Barkley…"

Kathleen pulled Ruby to a halt. Instantly, the girls were surrounded by their oldest brothers. Jarod and Adam jumped off their horses. Each brother pulled his sister off Ruby. Adam landed a mighty swat to Ellie's bottom. "You're going to get up on my horse and ride with me and you aren't going to say a word until we get back to the Barkley's ranch. And Eleanor, you just hit three." Adam said angrily.

Jarod did the same thing to Kathleen. "Little girl, you are in so much trouble. You're riding with me. When we get home, you are going to explain to Mother what happened today, and then you are going to go wait in your room for me."

Both girls nodded their heads. Ellie cried all the way back to the ranch. Kathleen held it together until they got back to the ranch and Jarod delivered another mighty swat and pointed toward the house, "March!" he commanded.

"And that was our trip to Stockton," said Ellie.

"Well don't stop. What happened after that?" Clay asked.

Ellie smiled, "Well neither Kathleen or I could sit for days. That was the first and last time I ever got to three."

Clay shook his head in disbelief.

"You know, there was something strange about that trip," Ellie said thoughtfully.

"What was that?" asked Clay.

"I rode the stage back with Papa and Adam went home with Hoss and Joe. I never knew why," she replied.

Clay smiled, he had a pretty good idea why that happened.

Clay looked at his brother and sister. "I can't believe Pa hasn't killed you yet. I hope you two learned your lesson. I won't put up with any of that foolishness."

"Oh Clay, were grown now, don't be silly," Ellie scoffed.

Clay looked at them. Joe was 18 and Ellie was 13, they weren't grown up by a country mile.


End file.
